THE  CAUSES 


Leading  to  the  Organization  of  the 

Cumberland  Presbyterian 

Church. 


By  rev.  J.  v.  STEPHENS, 

Professor  of  Ecclesiastical  History 
in  Cumberland  University. 


Nashville,  TaNW. : 

Cumberland  Presbyterian  Publishing  House. 

1898. 


EXPI.ANATORY. 


On  controverted  questions  it  has  been 
the  purpose  of  the  author  to  establish  his 
propositions,  as  far  as  possible,  by  citing- 
authorities  wholly  nevitral,  or  those  whose 
ecclesiastical  relations  would  be  expected 
to  lead  them  to  advocate  the  opposite 
views  from  those  set  forth  in  this  treatise. 
Points  proved  by  such  authorities  surely 
cannot  be  questioned. 

In  order  to  g^ive  the  reader  an  oppor- 
tunity to  interpret  the  various  authors 
quoted,  they  have,  as  far  as  possible, 
been  allowed  to  speak  in  their  own  words, 
references  being-  made  to  the  books  and 
pag-es  from  which  the  various  quotations 
have  been  taken.  A  list  of  the  books  con- 
sulted by  the  author  in  the  preparation  of 
this  work,  is  furnished  for  the  benefit  of 
those  who  may  desire  to  g-ive  the  question 
further  study.  J.  V.  Stephens. 

Theological  Seminary,  Lebanon,  Teun. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY. 


Alexander,  Rev.  W.  A.,  A  Digest 
of  the  Acts  and  Proceedings  of  the 
General  Assembly  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church  in  the  United  States. 
Richmond,  1888. 

Baird,  Samuel  J.,  A  Collection  of  the 
Acts,  Deliverances,  and  Testimonies 
of  the  Supreme  Judicatory  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church.   Philadelphia, 

1855. 

Bacon,  Leonard  Woolsey,  A  History 
of  American  Christianity.  New 
York,  1897. 

Barnes,  Rev.  Albert,  The  Way  of 
Salvation.     New  York,  1836. 

Beard,  Richard,  D.D.,  Brief  Bio- 
graphical Sketches  of  Some  of  the 
Early  Ministers  of  the  Cumberland 


THE  CAUSES. 


Presbyterian    Church.      Nashville, 

1867. 
Briggs,     Charles     Augustus,     D.D., 

American     Presbyterianism.     New 

York,  1885. 
Briggs,     Charles     Augustus,     D.D., 

Whither?     New  York,  1889. 
Briggs,  Charles  Augustus,  D.D.,  Ed- 
itor of  "How  Shall  We  Revise?" 

New  York,  1890. 
Buck,  Rev.  Charles,  Theological  Dic- 

tonary.     Philadelphia,  1851. 
Carroll,  H.  K.,    LL.D.,   The  Reli- 
gious Forces  of  the  United  States. 

New  York,  1893. 
CossiTT,  Rev.  F.  R.,  D.D.,  The  Life 

and  Times  of  Rev.    Finis   Ewing. 

Louisville,  1853. 
Craighead,  Rev.  J.  G.,  D.D.,  Scotch 

and  Irish  Seeds  in  American  Soil. 

Philadelphia,  1878. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


Crisman,  E.  B.,  D.D.,  Origin  and 
Doctrines  of  the  Cumberland  Pres- 
byterian Church.     St.  Louis,   1877. 

Davidson,  Rev.  Robert,  D.D.,  His- 
tory of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in 
Kentucky.     New  York,  1847. 

Dorchester,  Daniel,  D.D.,  Chris- 
tianity in  the  United  States.  New 
York,  1889. 

Fisher,  George  Park,  D.D.,  LL.D., 
History  of  the  Christian  Church. 
New  York,  1894. 

GiLivETT,  Rev.  E.  H.,  D.D.,  History 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the 
United  States.  Two  volumes.  Phil- 
adelphia, 1864. 

Hays,  Rev.  George  P.,  D.D.,  LL.D., 
Presbyterians.     New  York,  1892. 

Hetherington,  Rev.  W.  M.,  A.M., 
History  of  the  Church  of  Scotland. 
New  York,  1859. 


tai:  CAUSES. 


Hodge,  Rev.  Charles,  D.D.,  Constitu- 
tional History  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church.     Philadelphia,  1851. 

Hodge,  Rev.  Charles,  D.D.,  Discus- 
sions in  Church  Polity.  New  York, 
1878. 

Hurst,  John  Fletcher,  D.D.,  LL.D., 
Short  History  of  the  Christian 
Church.     New  York,  1893. 

McDoNNOLD,  B.  W.,  D.D.,  LL.D,  His- 
tory of  the  Cumberland  Presby- 
terian Church.     Nashville,  1888. 

Miller,  Rev.  A.  B.,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  Doc- 
trines and  Genius  of  the  Cumber- 
land Presbyterian  Church.  Nash- 
ville, 1892. 

Minutes  of  the  Cumberland  Presby- 
tery. Printed  In  the  Theological 
Medium,  vols.  IX.  and  X.  Nash- 
ville, 1878,  1879. 

Minutes  of  the  Cumberland  Synod. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY. 


Printed  in  the  Theological  Medium, 
vol.  X.  Nashville,  1879. 

Mitchell,  Alexander  F.,  D.D., 
LL.D.,  The  Westminster  As- 
sembly, Its  History  and  Standards. 
Philadelphia,  1897. 

Moore,  Rev.  William  E.,  D.D.,  The 
Presbyterian  Digest.  Philadelphia, 
1896. 

Smith,  Rev.  James,  History  of  the 
Christian  Church  from  its  Origin  to 
the  Present  Time.  Including  a 
History  of  the  Cumberland  Presby- 
terian Church.     Nashville,  1835. 

Thompson,  Rev.  Robert  Ellis,  D.  D., 
A  History  of  the  Presbyterian 
Churches  in  the  United  States. 
New  York,  1895. 

Zenos,  Rev.  Andrew  C,  D.D.,  Com- 
pendium of  Church  History.  Phil- 
adelphia, 1896. 


THE   CAUSES 

Leading    to    the    Organiza- 
tion OF  THE  Cumberland 
Presbyterian  Church. 


It  has  often  been  claimed  that  one 
of  the  weaknesses  of  the  Protestant 
Reformation  was  its  own  divisions. 
No  family  of  the  Protestant  laith  has 
shown  a  greater  tendency  to  split  up 
into  small  factions  than  the  Reformed, 
or  Presbj'terian  household.  This  has 
been  both  a  fault  and  a  virtue  of 
the  Presbyterians.  The  Cumberland 
Presbyterian  Church  is  one  of  the 
3"0ungest  members  of  this  distinguish- 
ed ecclesiastical  family.  A  great  re- 
sponsibility rests  upon  those  who 
originate  a  new  Church,  thus  further 


12  TEE  CAV8ES. 

dividing  the  people  of  God.  The 
founders  of  the  Cumberland  Presbyte- 
rian Church  fully  realized  this  respon- 
sibility, and  refused  to  become  the 
founders  of  a  new  Church  until  the 
closing  of  ecclesiastical  doors  in  their 
faces,  after  years  of  faithful  efforts 
to  pursue  a  different  course,  compelled 
them,  in  the  providence  of  God  as  they 
believed,  to  take  this  step.  Were 
their  reasons  of  sufficient  moment  to 
justify  their  action  ?  Before  a  verdict 
is  returned  attention  is  invited  to  the 
following  historical  facts. 

It  was  a  series  of  causes  which  led 
to  the  establishment  of  the  Cumber- 
land Presbyterian  Church.  It  is  not 
affirmed,  however,  that  they  were  all 
of  equal  importance  and  weight.  On 
the  contrary,  they  were  not ;  yet  it  is 
necessary  to   study  all  these  causes 


THE  REVIVAL.  13 

and  note  their  several  influences  on 
the  subject  under  consideration. 

/.  Tkf  first  cause  zvas  the  Revival  of 
1800. — It  may  seem  strange  that  a 
revival  of  religion  should  divide  a 
Church,  but  this  is  the  fact  in  the  case. 
Everything  was  quiet  in  the  Presby- 
terian Church  of  the  Cumberland 
Country  until  the  Rev.  James  Mc- 
Gready,  who  had  just  arrived  there 
from  North  Carolina,  began  his  heart- 
searching,  soul-stirring  preaching  to 
the  cold,  indifferent,  formal  church- 
members,  as  well  as  to  the  unsaved 
whether  in  the  Church  or  out  of  it. 
It  is  beyond  the  scope  of  this  treatise 
to  consider  the  Great  Awakening  of 
1800,  which  is  familiar  to  all  students 
of  Church  history.  It  is  well  known 
that  from  the  time  this  great  work  was 
fairly  begun  it  met  with  opposition 


14  THE  CAUSES. 

from  preachers  and  members  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  and  that  this 
opposition  became  stronger  and  more 
thoroughly  organized  as  the  gracious 
work  went  forward,  until  finally 
Church  courts  were  invoked  to  use 
their  ecclesiastical  machinery  in  crush- 
ing the  life  out  of  the  revival  party. 
Of  the  opposition  to  the  revival  Dr. 
McDonnold  (History  of  the  Cumber- 
land Presbyterian  Church,  p.  40)  says  : 
''Before  any  other  question  arose  be- 
tween the  two  parties  this  one  had 
split  the  churches  asunder."  In  the 
same  connection  the  historian  shows 
how  the  revival  arrayed  preachers 
into  two  factions,  and  divided  partic- 
ular churches.  Dr.  Robert  Davidson 
(History  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 
in  Kentucky,  p.  135)  affirms  that  "it 
was   but  a  part  of  the  Presbyterian 


THE  RETIVAL.  15 

clergy  of  the  lower  settlements  that 
were  engaged  in  the  measures  [the 
revival]  already  described.  These 
were  but  five  in  number,  Messrs.  Mc- 
Gready,  Hodge,  McGee,  MciVdow, 
and  Rankin.  All  the  rest  of  their 
brethren  disapproved  and  discoun- 
tenanced the  work,  from  its  com- 
mencement, as  spurious." 

This  is  not  the  only  instance  record- 
ed in  history  where  revival  influence 
met  with  opposition  from  the  Presby- 
terian Church.  The  Great  Awaken- 
ing of  1740  was  opposed  by  the  Old 
Side  party,  while  the  New  Side  party 
espoused  its  cause.  In  this  it  has 
been  charged  that  the  revival,  or  New 
Side  party,  became  offensive  to  the 
anti-revival,  or  Old  Side  party.  Doubt- 
less  the  charge  is  true.  It  is  i^ot  the 
purpose    in     this    tr^^tise     tQ    ^pol- 


16  THE  CAUSES. 

ogize  for  the  short-comings  of  the 
revival  party  in  the  Great  Awakening 
of  1740;  but  beyond  doubt  there  was 
strong  opposition  to  the  revival,  as 
such,  in  the  Presbyterian  Church.  In 
1740,  just  as  in  1800,  this  opposition 
to  the  revival  was  the  entering  wedge 
which  finally  split  the  Presbyterian 
Church.  In  the  first  case  the  revival, 
or  the  New  Side  party,  after  having 
an  ecclesiastical  door  slammed  in  its 
face,  established  the  Synod  of  New 
York,  and  entered  upon  independent 
work ;  and  so  in  the  latter  case  the 
revival  party,  after  having  its  ecclesi- 
astical house  torn  down,  and  being 
refused  admittance  to  any  other,  on 
honorable  terms,  which  it  sought  for 
four  years,  organized  the  Cumberland 
Presbytery,  and  entered  upon  inde- 
pendent work.     The  chief  points  of 


THE   REVITAL.  17 

difference  between  these  two  cases 
are  these:  (i)  the  territory  in  the 
Synod  of  New  York  was  much  more 
prominent  than  that  in  the  Presby- 
tery of  Cumberland;  and  (2)  there 
were  more  strong  ministers  in  favor 
of  the  revival  in  the  first  case  than 
in  the  second.  If,  however,  the  re- 
vival and  anti-revival  parties  be  com- 
pared with  each  other  in  each  of  these 
cases,  the  showing  for  the  revival  par- 
ty of  1800  is  much  more  favorable. 

It  has  been  frequently  urged  that 
the  revival  of  1800  ran  into  great 
extravagances.  This  is  freely  grant- 
ed. The  beneficial  results  to  the  peo- 
ple and  the  country,  and  not  the  ex- 
travagances, are  pointed  to  as  an  in- 
dication of  the  presence  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  and  the  divine  blessing  upon 
the  work.     But  whatever  may  be  said 


18  THE  CAUSES. 

about  the  extravagances  in  1800,  sim- 
ilar charges  were  made  against  the 
Great  Awakening  of  1740  in  cultured 
New  England  and  progressive  New 
Jersey.  In  the  latter  instance  the 
scholarly  Jonathan  Edwards  was 
not  "dazzled  by  the  incidents  of  the 
work,  nor  distracted  by  them  from 
the  essence  of  it.  His  argument  for 
the  divineness  of  the  work  is  not 
founded  on  the  unusual  or  extraordi- 
nary character  of  it,  nor  on  the  im- 
pressive bodily  effects  sometimes  at- 
tending it,  such  as  tears,  groans,  out- 
cries, convulsions,  or  faintings,  nor 
on  visions  or  ecstasies  or  'impres- 
sions.' What  he  claims  is  that  the 
work  may  be  divine,  7iotwiihsta)iding 
the  presence  of  these  incidents." 
(Bacon's  American  Christianity,  p. 
1 59-) 


THE  REVIVAL.  19 

Indeed,  so  strongly  had  the  Old 
Side  party  charged  extravagances  in 
the  work  of  1740,  that  when  the  re- 
union between  the  Old  and  the  New 
Side  parties  was  efifected  in  1758,  on 
the  demand  of  the  New  Side  party, 
the  Plan  of  Union  included  the  fol- 
lowing :  "  When  sinners  are  made 
sensible  of  their  lost  condition  and 
absolute  inability  to  recover  them- 
selves, are  enlightened  in  the  knowl- 
edge of  Christ  and  convinced  of  his 
ability  and  willingness  to  save,  and 
upon  gospel  encouragements  do 
choose  him  for  their  Savior,  and  re- 
nouncing their  own  righteousness  in 
point  of  merit,  depend  upon  his  im- 
puted righteousness  for  their  justifi- 
cation before  God,  and  on  his  wisdom 
and  strength  for  guidance  and  sup- 
port ;  when  upon  these  apprehensions 


20  THE  CAUSES. 

and  exercises  their  souis  are  comfort- 
ed, notwithstanding  all  their  past  guilt, 
and  rejoice  in  God  through  Jesus 
Christ;  when  they  hate  and  bewail 
their  sins  of  heart  and  life,  delight 
in  the  laws  of  God  without  exception, 
reverently  and  diligently  attend  his 
ordinances,  become  humble  and  self- 
denied,  and  make  it  the  business  of 
their  lives  to  please  and  glorify  God 
and  do  good  to  their  fellow  men  ;  this 
is  to  be  acknowledged  as  a  gracious 
work  of  God,  even  though  it  should  be 
attended  with  unusual  bodily  commo- 
tions or  some  more  exceptionable  cir- 
cumstances, by  means  of  infirmity, 
temptations,  or  remaining  corrup- 
tions ;  and  wherever  religious  appear- 
ances are  attended  with  the  good  ef- 
fects above  mentioned,  we  desire  to 
rejoice  in  and  thank  God  for  them." 


THE  REVITAL.  21 

(Briggs'  American  Presb3^terianism.  p. 

318.) 

The  promoters  of  the  Revival  of 
1800  could  well  afford  to  stand  on  the 
Plan  of  Union  adopted  by  the  Old  and 
the  New  Side  parties  in  forming  the 
re-united  Presbyterian  Church,  forty 
years  before,  and  to  plead  the  good  re- 
sults of  the  work  as  their  justification. 
Dr.  E.  H.  Gillett  (History  of  the  Pres- 
byterian Church,  vol.  I.,  p.  422)  says  : 
"  The  Great  Revival,  which  marks  the 
opening  of  the  present  century,  with 
all  its  extravagances  and  excesses,  ef- 
fectually arrested  the  universal  tide 
of  skepticism  and  irreligion.  It  began 
when  religion  was  at  the  lowest  ebb, 
and  spread  over  a  region  that  to  super- 
ficial view  was  proof  against  its  influ- 
ence." What  greater  proof  is  needed 
that  God  was  in  the  movement  ? 


THE  CAUSES. 


II,  The  7iext  cause  leadiyig  to  the  es- 
tablishment of  the  C^imberland  Presby- 
terian Church  was  the  lack  of  adapta- 
tion in  the  Presbyteria^i  Church  to  the 
nezu  situation  iri  a  wilderness  country. 
—The  Rev.  Richard  Beard,  D.D.,  (Bi- 
ographical Sketches,  pp.  32,  33)  says : 
"  From  the  extensive  spread  of  the 
revival,  and  the  enlargement  and 
multiplication  of  congregations,  a 
great  want  of  ministerial  labor  soon 
began  to  be  felt.  Another  thing  is  to 
be  said,  which  may  as  well  be  said 
plainly:  A  considerable  portion  of 
the  Presbyterian  ministry  were  not 
adapted  in  their  spirit  and  habits  to 
the  wants  of  the  people.  This  state- 
ment is  not  made  for  the  purpose  of 
stirring  up  strife,  which  w^as  certainly 
bitter  enough  in  its  day ;  but  for  the 
purpose    of    presenting    those    facts 


ADAPTATION.  23 

with  which  history  should  deal.  The 
prevailing  religious  preference  in  the 
West,  was  Presbyterian.  Presbyterian 
agencies  were  mainly  employed  in 
the  revival.  The  new  congregations 
wished  chiefly  to  become  and  to  remain 
Presbyterians;  but  there  were  not 
Presbyterian  ministers  enough,  who 
sympathized  with  the  new  condition 
of  things,  to  supply  them  with  the 
word  and  ordinances." 

Dr.  R.  E.  Thompson  (History  of 
the  Presbyterian  Churches  in  the 
United  States,  p.  70)  writes :  "A 
second  difficulty  in  the  Church's  way 
was  the  rigidity  of  her  polity  in  the 
matter  of  ministerial  education.  She 
was  right  in  setting  up  a  high  ideal, 
and  has  benefited  all  the  Churches  of 
America  by  this.  She  was  WTong  in 
refusing  to   recognize  that   there   ^re 


24  THE  CAUSES. 

times  when  a  higher  expediency  de- 
mands a  temporary  relaxation  of  the 
rule.  It  was  a  just  requirement  for  a 
fairly  educated  and  fully  intelligent 
community,  which  enjoyed  the  pros- 
perity and  the  leisure  of  a  country 
not  newly  settled.  On  the  frontier, 
however,  and  among  those  who  were 
enduring  the  hardships  and  privations 
of  a  new  settlement,  with  but  few  op- 
portunities for  even  the  simplest  edu- 
cation, the  rigid  exaction  of  a  col- 
legiate education  for  every  candidate 
for  the  ministry  was  a  fatal  embarrass- 
ment." "The  General  Assembly," 
he  continues,  "judged  of  the  needs 
of  the  frontiers  by  the  standard  of 
Philadelphia,  and  insisted  (the  people 
said)  on  '  making  men  gentlemen  be- 
fore it  made  them  ministers.'  It  thus 
left  its  natural  adherents  to  the  more 


ADAPTATIOX.  25 

adaptable  ministrations  of  the  Meth- 
odists and  Baptists." 

Dr.  Gillett  (Vol.  I.,  pp.  403,  401) 
sa5's :  "  Among  such  a  people,  the 
recluse  scholar,  with  his  logical,  pol- 
ished discourse  read  from  the  manu- 
script, was  not  needed.  Erudition  and 
refinement  were  not  in  demand.  The 
hardy  backwoodsman  required  a  new 
type  of  preacher, — one  who  could 
shoulder  axe  or  musket  with  his  con- 
gregation, preach  in  shirt-sleeves  and 
take  the  stump  for  a  pulpit.  Men  of 
this  stamp  could  not  be  manufactured 
to  order  in  colleges.  They  must  of 
necessity  be  trained  up  on  the  field. 
They  were  for  the  most  part  thus 
trained — many  of  them  after  their 
arrival  in  the  region ;  but  it  was  wise 
and  necessary  that  they  should  not 
despise    learning."     Professor   Zenos 


36  THE  CAUSES. 

(Church  History,  p.  330)  states  that 
as  a  result  of  the  Great  Revival  in 
Kentucky  "  the  growth  by  accessions 
of  conversions  was  so  rapid  that  edu- 
cated ministers  could  not  be  provided 
for  all  the  churches." 

The  historians,  thus  quoted,  all 
of  whom  are  Presbyterians,  and  two 
of  whom  were  writing  exclusively  on 
Presbyterian  history,  make  the  fol- 
lowing points:  (i)  The  growth  of 
the  churches  in  the  Cumberland 
Country,  as  a  result  of  the  revival, 
was  so  great  that  enough  "  educated 
ministers  could  not  be  provided  for 
all  the  churches."  (2)  The  peculiari- 
ties of  this  country  demanded  ''  a  new 
type  of  preacher."  Ministers  of  the 
proper  "  stamp  "  "  could  not  be  manu- 
factured to  order  in  colleges.  They 
must,  of  necessity,  be  trained  up  on 


ADAPTATIOX.  27 

the  field."  The  fact  should  not  be 
overlooked  that  there  were  no  col- 
leges in  the  Cumberland  Country  at 
this  early  day;  so  ministers  "trained 
up  on  the  field"  had  to  be  trained  oth- 
erwise than  in  a  college.  (3)  The 
General  Assembly  "judged  of  the 
needs  of  the  frontiers  by  the  standard 
of  Philadelphia."  This  led  to  "  the 
rigid  exaction,"  which  amounted  to 
"  a  fatal  embarrassment." 

The  Presbytery  of  Transylvania, 
organized  in  1786,  "  from  its  origin," 
endeavored  to  meet  this  difficulty  by 
appointing  "  Catechists."  After  the 
beginning  of  the  revival,  according  to 
Dr.  Davidson,  "  the  demand  for 
preaching  soon  exceeded  the  ability 
of  the  ordained  ministers  to  supply 
it."  Then  by  the  advice  of  the  Rev. 
David  Rice,  the  oldest  and  most  in- 


28  THE  CAUSES. 

fluential  Presbyterian  minister  in 
Kentucky,  the  revival  party,  "  in 
accordance  with  the  usage  of  the 
Presbytery  of  Transylvania,"  says  Dr. 
Davidson,  (p.  224),  selected  "  a  few  in- 
telligent and  zealous  laymen."  and 
licensed  them  "  as  Catechists  and 
traveling  exhorters."  Probably  the 
opposition  to  the  revival  had  led  the 
revival  party  to  depart  from  "  the 
usage  ot  the  Presbytery  of  Transyl- 
vania from  its  origin  "  until  Mr.  Rice 
advised  them  to  follow  *'  the  usage  of 
the  Presbytery."  Be  this  as  it  may, 
when  the  anti-revival  party  made  ob- 
jection to  this  custom  which  had 
been  "  the  usage  of  the  Presbytery  of 
Transylvania  from  its  origin,"  Mr. 
Rice  wrote  a  letter  to  the  General 
Assembly  on  the  subject.  While  the 
Assembly's  answer  was  guarded,  yet, 


ADAPTATIOX.  29 

according  to  Dr.  Davidson  (p.  230), 
it  admitted  that  "  when  the  field  is 
too  extensive,  Catechists,  like  those 
of  primitive  times,  may  be  found  use- 
ful assistants.  ...  If  possessed 
of  uncommon  talents,  diligent  in 
stud}^  and  promising  usefulness,  they 
might  in  time  purchase  to  themselves 
a  good  degree,  and  be  admitted  in 
regular  course  to  the  holy  ministry." 
Thus  the  Transylvania  Presbytery 
by  its  usage  "from  the  beginning;" 
the  advice  of  Mr.  Rice ;  and  on  that  ad- 
vice, the  practice  of  the  revival  party  ; 
and  the  letter  of  the  Assembly  to  Mr. 
Rice,  all  worked  toward  supplying 
this  new  country  not  only  with  a  suf- 
ficient number  of  gospel  laborers,  but 
also  with  the  "  new  type  of  preacher," 
which  the  country  needed.  This  ad- 
vice of  the  Assembly  was  in  agree- 


30  THE  CAUSES. 

ment  with  the  practice  of  the  Church 
in  Scotland  at  an  earlier  day,  in  a  like 
necessity.  The  Rev.  W.  M.  Hether- 
ington,  A.M.,  (History  of  the  Church 
of  Scotland,  p.  54)  speaking  of  the 
kinds  of  ofi&cers  in  the  Church  says : 
"This  latter  class  consisted  of  the 
most  pious  persons  that  could  be 
found,  who,  having  received  a  com- 
mon education,  were  able  to  read  to 
their  more  ignorant  neighbors,  though 
not  qualified  for  the  ministry.  When 
the  readers  were  found  to  have  dis- 
charged their  duty  well,  and  to  have 
increased  their  own  knowledge,  they 
were  encouraged  to  add  a  few  plain 
exhortations  to  the  reading  of  the 
Scriptures  ;  and  then  they  were  term- 
ed Exhorters.  If  they  still  continued 
to  improve,  they  might  finally  be  ad- 
mitted  to  the  ministry."     After  the 


ADAPTATION.  31 

enumeration  of  several  things  of 
which  the  foregoing  is  one,  the 
author  (p.  57)  continues :  '*  Such  were 
the  fundamental  principles,  and  the 
chief  points  of  the  government  and 
discipline  of  the  Church  of  Scotland 
as  stated  in  the  Book  of  Discipline, 
drawn  up  by  John  Knox  and  the 
most  eminent  of  the  Scottish  reform- 
ers ;  approved  by  the  General  Assem- 
bly ;  and  subscribed  by  a  majority  of 
the  nobles,  and  inferior  barons,  and 
gentry,  composing  the  privy  council 
of  the  kingdom." 

But  in  Kentucky,  early  in  the  Nine- 
teenth century,  this  attempt  at  adap- 
tation to  a  new  country  with  peculiar 
needs  was  cut  short  by  ecclesiastical 
courts  through  the  influence  of  the 
anti-revival  party. 

It  is  strange  how    many    writers 


32.  THE  CAUSL.^. 

have  fallen  into  the  error  so  frequent- 
ly made,  and  frequently  corrected, 
that  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian 
Church  was  organized  because  of  a 
dissent  from  the  Presbyterian  stand- 
ard of  ministerial  education,  as  such. 
That  the  question  of  education  was 
involved  to  the  extent  of  adapting  the 
Church  to  a  new  country  in  peculiar 
circumstances  is  admitted,  but  that 
there  was  a  desire  to  lower  the  stand- 
ard of  ministerial  education,  for  its 
own  sake,  historical  facts  positivelj^ 
contradict.  The  policy  of  the  revival 
party  is  fully  justified  by  the  Presby- 
terian historian,  who  says  that  owing 
to  the  peculiar  needs  of  this  new 
country  "  the  rigid  exaction  of  a  col- 
lege education  for  every  candidate  for 
the  ministry  was  a  fatal  embarrass- 
ment "  to  the  Presbyterian  Church. 


ADAPTATION.  33 

At  the  close  of  the  Revolutionary 
War  the  Presbyterian  Church  was  not 
surpassed  by  any  denomination  in  its 
opportunities  for  rapid  growth,  and 
ability  to  keep  pace  with  the  develop- 
ment of  the  nation.  No  Church  ex- 
erted a  greater  influence  in  achieving 
our  national  independence.  It  pos- 
sessed many  advantages  over  its  Bap- 
tist and  Methodist  competitors,  espec- 
ially among  the  Scotch  and  Scotch- 
Irish  elements,  which  were  so  large 
a  part  of  the  population  in  Kentucky 
and  Tennessee. 

The  struggle  in  the  Cumberland 
Country  on  the  part  of  the  revival 
party,  was  the  attempt  of  Presbyteri- 
anism  to  adapt  itself  to  the  pioneer 
life  in  a  wilderness  country.  Had  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  instead  of  trying 
to   maintain  the  "  standard  of  Phila- 

3 


34  THE  CAUSES. 

delphia  "  on  the  frontiers,  adapted  it- 
self in  educational  requirements,  and 
evangelism,  to  the  new  situation,  it 
would  to-day  bej^ond  doubt  be  the 
largest  Protestent  body  in  these 
United  States. 

"Had  the  Church,"  says  Dr. 
Thompson  (p.  69),  "been  able  to 
maintain  this  position  in  the  nation's 
religious  life,  and  had  it  even  been 
able  to  retain  in  its  membership  the 
children  of  the  great  Ulster  immigra- 
tion, and  to  continue  to  assimilate  the 
New  England  overflow,  it  would  now 
take  rank,  not  as  the  third,  but  as 
the  first  of  the  great  Protestent  com- 
munions of  America.  The  ranks  of 
the  Baptists  and  the  Methodists,  of 
the  Episcopalians  and  the  Disciples, 
have  been  swollen  at  its  expense.  Of 
the  descendants  of  the  Ulster  Presby- 


ADAPTATION.  35 

terians  in  America  probably  not  much 
above  a  third  are  to-day  Presbyterian. 
However  large  the  membership  and 
extensive  the  influence  of  the  Church, 
therefore,  it  cannot  be  called  success- 
ful even  in  holding  its  own,  much  less 
in  aggressive  power." 

Dr.  Leonard  Woolsey  Bacon  (Amer- 
ican Christianity,  p.  332)  accounts  for 
the  failure  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 
to  keep  pace  with  the  growth  of  the 
country,  in  the  following  paragraph  : 
"  The  Presbyterians  were  heavily 
cumbered  for  advance  work  by  tradi- 
tions and  rules  which  they  were  rig- 
idly reluctant  to  yield  or  bend,  even 
when  the  reason  for  the  rule  was  su- 
perseded by  higher  reasons.  The  ar- 
gument for  a  learned  ministry  is 
doubtless  a  weighty  one  ;  but  it  does 
not  suffice  to  prove  that  when  college- 


36  THE  CAUSLS. 

bred  men  are  not  to  be  had  it  is  better 
that  the  people  have  no  minister  at 
all.  There  is  virtue  in  the  rule  of 
ministerial  parity ;  but  it  should  not 
be  allowed  to  hinder  the  Church  from 
employing  in  humbler  spiritual  func- 
tions men  who  fall  below  the  pre- 
scribed standard.  This  the  Church, 
n  course  of  time,  discovered,  and  in- 
.stituted  a  *  minor  order  '  of  ministers, 
under  the  title  of  colporteurs.  But  it 
was  timidly  and  tardily  done,  and 
therefore  ineffectively.  The  Presby- 
terians lost  their  place  in  the  skir- 
mish-line." 

Adaptation  on  the  educational 
question  was  a  difficulty  encountered 
by  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the 
Great  Awakening  of  1740,  as  well  as 
in  the  Great  Awakening  of  1800.  In 
the  former,  as  in  the  latter,  there  were 


ADAPTATION. 


those  who  stood  for  the  "  rigid -'ex- 
action of  a  college  education  for  every 
candidate  for  the  ministry."  In  the 
former,  as  in  the  latter,  as  Dr.  G.  P. 
Hays  (Presbyterians,  p.  90)  well  says, 
there  were  those  "  equally  anxious  for 
a  proper  education ;  but  instead  of 
doing  nothing  because  they  could  not 
accomplish  the  impracticable,  insisted 
upon  doing  the  best  they  could  under 
the  circumstances."  In  the  former, 
students  from  Neshaminy  academy 
could  not  be  admitted  to  the  ministry 
by  the  Presbytery  until  a  Synodical 
Committee  passed  on  their  qualifica- 
tions; in  the  latter,  training  in  the 
Spring  Hill  academy  did  not  protect 
a  young  man  from  a  Synodical  Com- 
mission. 

If    the    Cumberland    Presbyterian 
Church  became  a   separate  body  on 


38  THE   CAUSES. 

account  of  a  difiference  with  the  mo- 
ther Church  on  the  question  of  minis- 
terial education,  the  New  Side  Synod 
of  New  York  was  organized  in  1745 
for  a  similar  reason.  Education, 
though  not  the  prime  cause  in  either 
case,  entered  largely  into  both.  But 
it  has  been  said  that  the  educational 
controversy  is  not  the  only  reason 
for  the  existence  of  the  Cumberland 
Presbyterian  Church.  Two  of  the 
young  men,  Thomas  Nelson  and 
Samuel  Hodge,  who  were  placed  un- 
der the  prohibition  of  the  Synodical 
Commission,  and  one  of  whom  at 
least  was  not  as  well  qualified  as  other 
young  men  who  were  placed  under 
the  same  prohibition,  came  before  the 
Transylvania  Presbytery,  and,  ac- 
cording to  Dr.  Davidson  (p.  251), 
"  after  a  long  and  particular  examina- 


ADAPTATION.  39 

tion,  the  Presbytery  were  satisfied 
with  regard  to  their  doctrinal  sound- 
ness, their  aptness  to  teach,  their 
adoption  of  the  Confession,  and  their 
solemn  promise  to  conform  to  the 
rules  of  the  Church.  Their  former 
license  and  ordination  were  unani- 
mously confirmed,  and  they  were  au- 
thorized to  exercise  all  the  functions 
of  the  sacred  office."  These  two 
young  men,  neither  of  whom  was 
up  to  the  standard,  were  allowed  to 
go  on  with  their  work.  There  is  no 
violence  done  in  supposing  that  the 
same  thing  would  have  been  true 
of  the  other  young  men  had  they 
"  adopted  the  Confession,"  and  prom- 
ised "  to  conform  to  the  rules  of  the 
Church." 

Dr.  F.  R.  Cossitt,  who  made  a  care- 
ful study  of  the  whole  subject  years 


40  THE  CAUSES. 

ago,  believed  that  the  main  difficulty 
was  in  the  fact  that  the  Kentucky 
Synod,  finding  it  had  been  misled  by 
the  anti-revival  party  (Life  of  Kwing, 
p.  169),  "deemed  the  submission  of 
the  young  men  to  their  wrong  meas- 
ures indispensable  to  the  justification 
of  their  Commission's  proceedings. 
.  .  .  Submission,  nothing  less  than 
unqualified  submission,  was  in  all 
cases  demanded,  with  all  the  un- 
changeableness  of  the  laws  of  the 
Medes  and  Persians,  notwithstanding 
this  had  been  again  and  again  re- 
fused." There  is  no  doubt  that  there 
is  a  great  deal  of  truth  in  Dr.  Cossitt's 
position.  Messrs.  Nelson  and  Hodge, 
who  had  been  licensed  and  ordained 
by  the  afterward  dissolved  Cumber- 
land Presbytery,  without  any  adequate 
examination  as  to  their  literary  qual- 


ADAPTATION,  41 

ification,  were  allowed  to  go  on,  their 
licensure  and  ordination  b}'  the  dis- 
solved Presbytery  holding  good,  on 
their  "  adopting  the  Confession  "  and 
promising  "to  conform  to  the  rules 
of  the  Church."  This  is  evidence 
that  the  revival  was  a  stronger  influ- 
ence in  bringing  about  separate  or- 
ganization than  the  educational  issue. 
The  foregoing  is  sufficient  to  prove 
that  there  was  something  more  seri- 
ous than  the  educational  difficulty, 
but  if  additional  testimony  is  wanting 
it  can  be  found  in  the  following  cases  : 
In  1758,  before  the  organization  of 
the  Assembly  (Presbyterian  Digest, 
p.  368),  "  several  very  earnest  applica- 
tions were  made  to  the  Synod  by 
Welsh  people  in  different  parts,  rep- 
resenting that  many  among  them  un- 
derstood not  the  English  tongue,  and 


42  THE  CAUSES. 

unless  they  have  a  pastor  capable  of 
speaking  in  their  own  language  they 
must  live  entirely  destitute  of  ordin- 
ances ;  that  a  certain  Mr.  John  Grif- 
fith came  some  years  ago  from  Wales, 
with  good  certificates  of  his  Christian 
knowledge  and  piety,  though  he  has 
not  had  a  liberal  education,  and  of 
being  there  licensed  to  preach  the 
gospel ;  that  he  has  preached  among 
them  to  their  great  satisfaction,  and 
therefore  pray  the  Synod  to  ordain 
him  to  the  ministry."  The  Synod 
decided  that  "  as  the  circumstances 
of  that  people  are  singular,  and  no 
other  way  appears  in  which  they  can 
enjoy  ordinances,  the  Synod  agree 
that  the  said  Mr.  John  Griffith,  though 
he  has  not  the  measure  of  school 
learning  usually  required,  and  which 
they  judge  to  be  ordinarily  requisite, 


ADAPTATIO^\  43 

be  ordained  to  the  work  of  the  min- 
istry." 

In  their  Circular  Letter  some  of  the 
members  of  the  original  Cumberland 
Presbytery,  in  reference  to  '*  licensing 
unlearned  men,"  said :  "The  Presby- 
tery not  only  plead  the  exception 
made  in  the  discipline  in  extraordin- 
ary cases,  but  also  the  example  of  a 
number  of  the  Presbyteries  in  diffier- 
ent  parts  of  the  United  States. 
Among  the  many  instances  of  this 
kind  that  might  be  mentioned  are  the 
following,  viz. :  Mr.  Beck,  who  was 
received  by  the  Presbytery  of  North 
Carolina ;  Mr.  Bloodworth,  by  Orange ; 
Mr.  Moore,  by  Hanover;  Mr.  Mar- 
quis, by  Redstone,  and  Mr.  Kemper 
and  Mr.  Abell,  by  Transylvania  Pres- 
b)^tery.  ...  In  short,  the  ma- 
jority of  the  Cumberland  Presbytery 


44  THE  CAUSES. 

were  of  the  opinion,  that  the  com- 
pilers of  the  Confession  of  Faith  and 
Discipline  of  our  Church,  never  in- 
tended it  to  be  considered  an  infalli- 
able  standard  by  which  the  Holy 
Ghost  must  be  limited,  when  he  calls 
men  to  that  sacred  office."  (History 
of  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian 
Church,  by  the  Rev.  James  Smith,  p. 
678.) 

It  is  evident  that  exceptions  to  the 
regular  standard  has  been  made  by 
several  Presbyteries,  and  more  than 
once  sanctioned  by  the  highest  Church 
court.  The  Presbytery  of  Transyl- 
vania, as  has  been  shown,  made  at 
least  two  exceptions— one  of  these, 
Mr.  Kemper,  who  was  at  first  ap- 
pointed as  a  Catechist,  was  ordained 
and  settled  as  pastor  in  Cincinnati. 
Therefore,   the    conclusion   must   be 


ADAPTATION.  45 

that  another  and  a  more  powerful  rea- 
son than  the  educational  question  en- 
tered into  the  controversy. 

It  is  true  that  the  new  Cumberland 
Presbjlery  adopted  a  modified  stand- 
ard on  ministerial  education,  which 
was  a  sensible  course,  Presbyterian 
historians  being  witnesses.  But  this 
did  not  mean  that  the  founders  of  the 
Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church 
were  opposed  to  classical  culture.  Be- 
fore the  independent  organization,  the 
revival  party,  in  a  letter  to  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly  (Smith,  p.  624)  said  : 
"  vVe  never  have  embraced  the  idea 
of  an  unlearned  ministry.  The  pecu- 
liar state  of  our  country  and  the  ex- 
tent of  the  revival,  reduced  us  to  the 
necessity  of  introducing  more  of  that 
description  than  we  otherwise  would. 
We  sincerely  esteem   a  learned  and 


46  THE  CAUSES. 

pious  ministry,  and  hope  the  Church 
will  never  be  left  destitute  of  such  an 
ornament." 

"The  very  first  year,"  writes  Dr. 
McDonnold  (p.  60),  "of  that  Presby- 
tery's existence  it  addressed  a  circu- 
lar letter  to  the  churches  under  its 
care,  in  which  it  told  those  churches, 
and  all  others  concerned  in  the  case, 
to  have  no  fears  of  any  laxness  in 
educational  requirements ;  declaring 
its  purpose  to  require  a  classical  edu- 
cation in  all  cases  where  that  was 
practicable,  and  when  in  exceptional 
cases  and  emergencies  that  was  dis- 
pensed with,  in  no  case  to  dispense 
with  a  thorough  English  education." 

From  the  very  beginning,  the  sub- 
ject of  education  received  special  at- 
tention by  the  Presbytery.  Funds 
were  raised   to  assist  worthy  young 


ADAPTATION.  47 

men,  and  a  circulating  library  was 
purchased  for  their  use  in  which  were 
works  on  astronomy,  logic,  philoso- 
phy, Christian  evidence,  etc.  (Min- 
utes of  Cumberland  Presbytery,  in 
Theological  Medium,  Vol.  IX.,  p. 
481.)  The  Rev.  Finis  Ewing,  one  of 
the  fathers  of  the  Church,  was  edu- 
cated at  Spring  Hill  Academy,  near 
Nashville.  While  he  was  not  a  col- 
lege graduate,  he  was  by  no  means  an 
ignorant  man.  He  showed  his  ap- 
preciation of  educational  advantages 
by  establishing,  largely  out  of  his 
own  means,  the  first  classical  school 
in  his  part  of  the  state ;  and  later  by 
giving  his  son,  who  was  looking  to 
the  ministry,  a  thorough  education. 
Within  twelve  years  after  the  organi- 
zation of  the  independent  Presbytery, 
the  Cumberland   Presbyterians  were 


48.  THE  CAUSES. 

contemplating  the  founding  of  a  col- 
lege, and  in  1826,  four  years  later, 
which  was  three  years  before  the 
General  Assembly  was  organized, 
those  founders  of  the  Cumberland 
Presbyterian  Church,  "  who  traveled 
in  homespun  clothing  made  by  their 
wives,  and  carried  text-books  in  their 
saddle-bags  while  they  went  seeking 
the  lost  among  the  pioneer  settle- 
ments, established,  through  the  Gen- 
eral Synod,  a  college  for  the  educa- 
tion of  young  preachers."  (McDon- 
nold,  p.  61.) 

In  all  these  early  days  the  homes  of 
many  of  the  preachers  were  the 
homes  of  the  young  men  preparing 
for  the  ministry,  and  the  older  minis- 
ters were  the  teachers  of  their  young 
brethren.  The  theory  of  the  Church 
was  to  adapt  its  methods  to  the  times. 


ADAPTATIOX.  49 

and  yet  keep  its  ministry  to  the  front 
in  qualifications,  as  leaders  of  the 
people.  Notwithstanding  the  small 
beginning  of  the  Cumberland  Presby- 
terian Church,  and  the  poverty  of  its 
membership,  according  to  the  census 
report  of  1890,  the  communicants  of 
this  faith  in  Kentucky  and  Tennes- 
see, in  whose  bounds  the  Cumberland 
Country  was  located,  outnumbered  the 
total  communicants  of  all  the  other 
Presbyterian  bodies  in  those  States, 
by  about  14,000.  The  aggregate  Cum- 
berland Presbyterian  membership  was 
greater  in  1890,  by  over  27,000,  than 
the  aggregate  membership  of  all  the 
other  Presbyterian  Churches  in  the 
following  six  States :  Alabama,  Ar- 
kansas, Kentucky,  Missouri,  Tennes- 
see and  Texas.  In  Tennessee,  alone , 
Cumberland  Presbyterians   exceeded 


50  THE  CAUSES. 

all  Other  Presbyterians  by  about  22,000. 
American  Presbyterianism  is  richer  to- 
day by  over  200,000  Cumberland  Pres- 
byterian communicants,  besides  thous- 
ands who  have  found  homes  in  other 
Presbyterian  Communions  than  it 
would  be,  had  not  the  founders  of  the 
Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church 
adapted  Presbyterianism  to  the  needs 
of  a  frontier  country.  It  does  not 
fall  within  the  present  scope  to  dis- 
cuss the  educational  status  of  the 
Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church  to- 
day. The  well  informed  do  not  need 
to  be  told  that  the  policy  of  the 
Church  has  been  to  keep  abreast  of 
the  times.  How  well  she  has  suc- 
ceeded in  accomplishing  this  under- 
taking, her  position  in  the  American 
Presbyterian  sisterhood  may  answer. 
But   before    dismissing    this   topic 


ADAPTATION.  51 

there  are  two  other  things  that  must 
be  mentioned.  The  conservatism  of 
the  Southern  Presbyterian  Church  is 
well  understood,  therefore  any  dis- 
position in  this  staid  Communion  to 
modify  its  standard  on  ministerial 
education,  at  this  late  day,  is  certainly 
significant.  In  1885,  the  Presbytery 
of  Chesapeake  overtured  the  General 
Assembly  to  send  down  to  the  Pres- 
byteries an  amendment  which  would 
so  modify  the  standards  that  the  Pres- 
byteries might,  at  their  discretion, 
"  set  apart  to  the  gospel  ministry 
godly  and  experienced  men,  well 
versed  in  the  English  Bible,  and  in 
the  Standards  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  in  the  United  States,  apt  to 
teach,  and  evidently  called  to  the 
ministry  by  the  Lord  through  his 
Spirit    and     providence.  L*  Answer 


52  THE  CAUSE.^ 

The  Assembl}^  declines  to  comply 
with  the  request,  ample  provision  for 
extraordinary  cases  being  made  in 
Chap.  VL,  Sec.  VI.,  Art.  VI..  of  the 
Form  of  Government."  (Alexander's 
Digest,  p.  30.)  This  article  referred 
to  in  the  Form  of  Government  reads 
as  follows :  "  No  candidate,  except 
in  extraordinary  cases,  .shall  be  li- 
censed unless  he  shall  have  completed 
the  usual  course  of  academical  stud- 
ies," etc.  From  1869  to  1879,  by  the 
action  of  the  Assembly  of  the  South- 
ern Presbyterian  Church,  it  was  the 
law  of  that  Church  for  *'  exhorters  " 
to  be  appointed  "  under  control  of  the 
Presbytery." 

In  1 87 1  the  Northern  General  As- 
sembly instructed  its  Board  of  Publi- 
cation to  select  for  its  colportage 
work  "such  persons  as  may  also  be 


ADAPTATION.  S3 

suitable  for  Sabbath  school  missiona- 
ries, and  instruct  them  to  establish 
Sabbath  schools  in  destitute  localities, 
under  the  supervision  of  the  Presby-^ 
teries."  (Presbyterian  Digest,  p.  440.) 
In  1882  the  Assembly  instructed  the 
Board  in  reference  to  the  work  of  the 
colporteurs  that  "  the  main  emphasis 
is  to  be  laid  upon  the  work  of  relig- 
ious visitation,  and  the  Sabbath  school 
work  expected  from  them  among  the 
spiritually  destitute."  (Presbyterian 
Digest,  p.  559.)  This  is  what  Dr.  Ba- 
con calls  "a  'minor  order'  of  minis- 
ters, under  the  title  of  colporteurs," 
but  which  he  says  "  was  timidly  and 
tardily  "  instituted. 

If  the  Southern  Presbyterian 
Church,  as  late  as  1869,  found  a  need 
for  "  exhorters  "  ;  and  the  Northern 
Presbyterian  Church,  as  late  as  1871, 


54  THE  CAUSES. 

felt  constrained  to  institute  this  "  mi- 
nor order"  of  ministers  for  work 
"among  the  spiritually  destitute," 
surely  neither  of  these  Churches  at 
this  late  day  would  condemn  the  in- 
duction of  men  into  the  ministry, 
who  were  not  classical  scholars,  in  the 
early  years  of  the  century,  in  a  coun- 
try where  just  such  men  must  minis- 
ter "among  the  spiritually  destitute," 
or  these  "  spiritually  destitute  "  must 
remain  "  spiritually  destitute."  Only 
a  few  years  ago,  that  prince  among 
Presbyterian  ministers.  Dr.  T.  L. 
Cuyler,  said  :  "  Three  truths  are  as 
solid  and  indisputable  as  the  rocks  on 
yonder  mountain.  First,  we  must 
have  more  preachers  of  the  gospel  of 
salvation.  Second,  when  the  Holy 
Spirit  moves  a  Christian  man  to 
preach  Christ  Jesus  we  must  not  tie 


AD  APT  ATI  ox.  55 

him  fast  with  ecclesiastical  red  tape. 
Third,  when  ministers  enough  cannot 
be  got  into  the  pulpit  by  long  regula- 
tion roads  we  must  open  shorter 
roads."  (Miller's  Cumberland  Pres- 
byterian Church,  p.  311.)  If  the  con- 
dition of  things  in  the  Presbyterian 
Church  led  Dr.  Cuyler  to  use  the  fore- 
going language  a  few  years  ago,  what 
would  he  have  said  on  the  same  ques- 
tion, had  he  been  a  member  of  the 
Kentucky  Synod  in  1805,  when  this 
Synod  dissolved  the  Cumberland  Pres- 
bytery for  pursuing  the  very  course 
which  he  here  points  out  as  the  proper 
one,  under  the  circumstances  ? 

In  1867  a  Joint-Committee  from  the 
Southern  Presbj'terian  and  the  Cum- 
berland Presbyterian  General  Assem- 
blies met  and  discussed  terms  of  or- 
ganic union.     The  Cumberland  Pres- 


56  THE  CAUSERS. 

byterian  Committee  proposed  to  sur- 
render the  Church  name  and  the 
standard  of  ministerial  education,  pro- 
vided the  Presbyterian  Committee 
would  agree  to  a  modification  in  the 
phraseology  of  the  Westminster  Stand- 
ards on  "  those  points  which  pertain  to 
the  subject  of  fore-ordination,  and  its 
cognate  doctrines."  On  the  subject 
of  ministerial  education  the  Presby- 
terian Committee  expressed  the  senti- 
ment that  "  there  is  no  difference  be- 
tween us;  that  whatever  may  have 
been  the  views  and  the  policy  of  the 
Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church  in 
that  early  day,  and  under  the  exigen- 
cies of  the  times,  the  sentiment  of 
the  Church  is  now  unanimous  as  to 
the  necessity  of  an  educated  ministry, 
in  the  sense  in  which  our  standards 
make   it    obligatory."      (Alexander's 


ADAPTATION.  57 

Digest,  p.  440.)  It  is  hardly  necessary 
to  say,  in  this  connection,  that  "  the 
views  and  policy  "  of  the  Cumberland 
Presbyterian  Church  on  this  subject 
were  exactly  the  same  in  1867  that 
they  were  from  the  beginning.  So 
this  Committee  of  the  Southern  Pres- 
byterian General  Assembly  being  wit- 
ness, the  question  of  ministerial  edu- 
cation is  not,  and  has  not  been,  the 
bugbear  that  it  has  often  been  made 
to  appear.  The  Presbyterian  Com- 
mittee spoke  of  "  the  exciting  times," 
in  the  early  part  of  the  century, 
growing  out  of  the  revival ;  and  ex- 
pressed its  judgment  that  "  in  such  a 
time  there  is  a  natural  tendency  in 
the  minds  of  men  to  extremes,  and 
even  the  best  men  do  not  act  with  the 
same  sober  judgment,  and  in  the  same 
prayerful  deliberation,  as  when  under 


58  THE  CAUSES. 

less  exciting  influences."  But  grant- 
ing that  "the  exciting  times"  led 
good  men  to  act  with  less  "  sober 
judgment,"  and  less  "  praj'erful  delib- 
eration "  than  the  gravit^^  of  the  sit- 
uation demanded,  thus  leading  "  the 
minds  of  men  to  extremes "  on  the 
matter  of  ministerial  education  in 
those  bygone  years  ;  yet  the  difference 
between  these  two  Churches  on  this 
subject  does  not  account  for  the  fail- 
ure to  effect  organic  union  between 
them  over  thirty  years  ago.  In  view  of 
this  scrap  of  history  no  intelligent 
Southern  Presbyterian,  who  claims  to 
be  familiar  with  the  doings  of  his 
General  Assembly,  can  afford  to  re- 
peat the  ill-founded  charge  that  the 
existence  of  the  Cumberland  Presby- 
terian Church  to-day  is  due  to  a  policy 
of  an  uneducated  ministry. 


ADAPTATIOX.  59 

To  an  intelligent  and  discrimina- 
ting public,  the  action  of  the  fathers 
of  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian 
Church  on  the  matter  of  education, 
on  the  frontiers  a  hundred  years  ago, 
is  open  for  inspection.  The  Cumber- 
land Presbyterian  Church  has  no  fear 
as  to  what  the  verdict  of  the  well-in- 
formed public  would  be,  on  the  neces- 
sity and  wisdom  of  the  course  pur- 
sued by  the  founders  of  this  Church 
amid  their  surroundings  in  the  wil- 
derness. While  the  fathers  of  the 
Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church, 
adapted  themselves  to  the  needs  of 
their  day ;  they  at  the  same  time  fell 
upon  the  happy  expedient  which 
makes  the  sentiment  of  the  Church 
they  founded  "  unanimous  as  to  the 
necessity  of  an  educated  ministry,  in 
the    sense   in   which"   the   Southern 


60  THE  CAUSES. 

Presbj^terian  "  standards  make  it  obli- 
gatory." But  Presbyterian  historians 
show  that  the  Presbyterian  Church 
failed  to  adapt  itself  to  the  situation  in 
the  Southwest  early  in  the  Nineteenth 
century,  and  that  this  failure  was  the 
great  weakness  of  the  Church.  How- 
ever, the  course  of  both  the  Southern 
and  Northern  General  Assemblies 
about  the  j-ear  1870,  as  has  already 
been  shown,  is  another  evidence  as  to 
the  wisdom  of  the  course  of  our  fathers. 
Besides  the  deliverances  of  the  high- 
est Church  courts,  there  are  many 
thoughtful  Presbyterians  who  believe 
that,  even  now,  their  standard  of 
ministerial  education  would  be  better 
adapted  to  their  needs  it  it  were  modi- 
fied somewhat  in  the  same  way  that 
the  Cumberland  Presbyterians  modi- 
fied it  long  ago. 


DOCTRINE.  61 


While  this  question  has  been  very 
briefly  stated,  it  is  evident  that  the 
question  involved  was  one  of  much 
greater  magnitude  than  that  of  educa- 
tion, in  itself.  It  was  one  of  that 
broad  character  of  adaptation  to  the 
people  and  the  times.  The  failure  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church  to  adjust 
itself  to  the  situation,  was  its  "  fatal 
embarrassment,"  and  caused  it  not  to 
be  "  successful  even  in  holding  its 
own,  much  less  in  aggressive  power." 
Because  of  this  the  "  Presbyterians 
lost  their  place  in  the  skirmish  line." 
In  the  light  of  these  facts  Cumberland 
Presbyterians  are  willing  for  the  pub- 
lic to  judge  of  the  wisdom  of  the 
course  of  their  fathers. 

///.  The  final  and  principal  cause 
leading  to  the  estabtishrne^it  of  the 
Cumber layid  Presbyterian  Church  was 


62  THE  CAUSES. 


one  of  doctrine. — It  has  not  been  af- 
firmed that  all  the  revival  preachers 
were  not  in  harmony  with  the  West- 
minster Confession  of  Faith.  Mr. 
McGready  and  some  others  doubtless 
were.  When  the  time  for  indepen- 
dent action  came  these  made  terms 
for  themselves  with  the  mother 
Church.  But  it  is  evident  that  a 
large  number  of  these  revival  preach- 
ers did  not  accept  the  Westminster 
Confession  without  reservations.  The 
Adopting  Act  of  1729  provided  for 
this.  Dr.  Briggs  (How  Shall  We  Re- 
vise? p.  31)  says:  "The  American 
Presbyterian  Church,  in  1729,  adopted 
the  Westminster  Standards  in  a  cath- 
olic spirit.  They  adopted  not  the 
whole  doctrine,  but  the  system  of 
doctrine ;  not  all  the  articles,  but 
the  essential  and  necessary  articles. 


DOCTRINE.  63 


.  .  .  The  term  adopted  in  1788  is 
as  follows  :  '  Do  you  sincerely  receive 
and  adopt  the  Confession  of  Faith  of 
this  Church  as  containing  the  vSystem 
of  doctrine  taught  in  the  Holy  Script- 
ures ?  '  This  is  not  so  clear  as  it 
ought  to  be.  It  might  be  made  more 
definite  by  inserting  its  historic  inter- 
pretation into  it." 

The  Adopting  Act,  of  the  Synod  of 
Philadelphia,  in  1729,  referred  to 
above,  among  other  things,  contained 
the  following  :  "And  we  do  also  agree 
that  all  the  Presbyteries  within  our 
bounds  shall  always  take  care  not  to 
admit  any  candidate  of  the  ministry 
into  the  exercise  of  the  sacred  func- 
tion but  what  declares  his  agreement 
in  opinion  with  all  the  essentials  and 
necessary  articles  of  said  Confession, 
either  by  subscribing  the  said  Con- 


64  TEE  CAUSES. 

fession  of  Faith  and  Catechisms,  or 
by  a  verbal  declaration  of  their  as- 
sent thereto,  as  such  minister  or  can- 
didate shall  think  best.  And  in  case 
any  minister  of  this  Synod,  or  any 
candidate  for  the  ministry,  shall  have 
any  scruple  with  respect  to  any  article 
or  articles  of  said  Confession  or  Cate- 
chisms, he  shall  at  the  time  of  his 
making  said  declaration  declare  his 
sentiments  to  the  Presbytery  or  Synod, 
who  shall,  notwithstanding,  admit 
him  to  the  exercise  of  the  ministry 
within  our  bounds,  and  to  ministerial 
communion,  if  the  Synod  or  Presby- 
tery shall  judge  his  scruples  or  mis- 
take to  be  only  about  articles  not  es- 
sential and  necessary  in  doctrine, 
worship  or  government.  But  if  the 
Synod  or  Presbytery  shall  judge 
such  ministers  or  candidates  errone- 


DOCTRINE.  65 


ous  in  essential  and  necessary  articles 
of  faith,  the  Synod  or  Presbytery 
shall  declare  them  uncapable  of 
communion  with  them.  And  the 
Synod  do  solemnly  agree,  that  none 
of  us  will  traduce  or  use  any  oppro- 
brious terms  of  those  that  diJBfer  from 
us  in  these  extra-essential  and  not 
necessary  points  of  doctrine,  but  treat 
them  with  the  same  friendship,  kind- 
ness, and  brotherly  love,  as  if  they 
had  not  differed  from  us  in  such 
sentiments."  (Thompson,  pp.  331, 
332.)  Dr.  Briggs  says :  "The  first 
rupture  brought  on  by  violence  was  a 
severe  lesson  to  the  strict  subscrip- 
tionists  and  narrow  dogmatists,  and 
the  reunion  re-established  the  whole 
Church  on  the  platform  of  the  orig- 
inal Adopting  Act.  When  the  Con- 
stitution was  adopted,  the  American 


66  THE  CAUSES. 


Presbyterian  Church  adhered  to  its 
original  position,  and  there  it  stands 
to-day  after  another  century  of  prog- 
ress, disruption,  reunion,  and  marvel- 
ous growth."  (American  Presbyteri- 
anism,  p.  373.)  Thus  the  "  catholic 
spirit"  of  T729  was  maintained  by 
the  Assembly  in  1788. 

The  Rev.  Albert  Barnes  (Way  of 
Salvation,  p.  125)  said:  "The  act  of 
Synod  [i.  e..  Adopting  Act]  was  the 
basis  of  the  union  in  1758;  and  this 
proviso  has  never  been  withdrawn  or 
repealed ;  and  is,  in  fact,  an  essential 
part  of  the  Standards  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church.  In  that  article,  pro- 
vision is  made  for  a  difference  of 
opinion  which  may  be  known,  and 
admitted  and  tolerated,  in  the  Presby- 
teries, where  that  difference  does  not 
amount  to  a  denial  of  what  is  '  essen. 


DOCTRINE.  67 


fia/  or  necessary  in  doctrine,  zvorship, 
or  government'  It  is  the  inalienable 
privilege  and  right  of  each  and  every 
Presbytery  to  judge  in  this  matter  ; 
and  this  right  is  secured,  no  less  by 
the  constitntion  of  the  Church,  than 
by  the  word  of  God." 

Thus  it  seems  that  even  after  the 
organization  of  the  Assembly  the  idea 
of  liberal  subscription  had  not  passed 
away.  Even  to  this  day,  according  to 
Dr.  Briggs  (How  Shall  We  Revise? 
pp.  29,  30),  "the  term  of  subscription 
means  one  thing  in  Western  Pennsyl- 
vania, another  thing  in  central  New 
York.  It  is  one  thing  in  Baltimore, 
another  thing  in  our  metropolis  [New 
York].  Presbyterianism  changes  its 
complexion  as  we  pass  from  State  to 
State  and  from  city  to  city.  The  real 
test  of  orthodoxy  in  the  Presbyteries 


68  THE  CAUSES. 

is  not  the  Westminster  Confession  in 
its  historic  sense — is  not  the  term  of 
subscription  in  its  historical  meaning. 
It  is  the  system  of  doctrine  held  by 
the  majority  of  the  ministers,  and  the 
term  of  subscription  as  interpreted  by 
them.  It  is  in  general  the  systems  of 
doctrine  of  American  dogmaticians, 
with  such  measure  of  departure  there- 
from as  the  majority  of  a  Presbytery 
may  deem  it  wise  to  allow." 

It  appears  that  the  Rev.  Barton  W. 
Stone,  who  was  a  contemporary  of  the 
revival  party  in  the  Transylvania 
Presbytery  and  who  was  ordained  by 
this  Presbytery,  made  certain  reserva- 
tions in  adopting  the  Westminster 
Confession.  Dr.  E.  B.  Crisman  (Ori- 
gin and  Doctrines,  p.  79)  quotes  from 
the  autobiography  of  Mr.  Stone  as 
follows :  *'  In  this  State  of  mind,  the 


DOCTRINE.  69 


day  appointed  for  my  ordination  found 
me.  I  had  determined  to  tell  the 
Presbytery  honestly  the  state  of  my 
mind,  and  to  request  them  to  defer 
my  ordination  until  I  should  be  better 
informed  and  settled.  The  Presbytey 
came  together,  and  a  large  congrega- 
tion attended.  Before  its  constitu- 
tion, I  took  aside  the  two  pillars  of  it, 
Doctor  James  Bly  the  and  Robert  Mar- 
shall, and  made  known  to  them  my 
difficulties,  and  that  I  had  determined 
to  decline  ordination  at  that  time. 
They  labored,  but  in  vain,  to  remove 
my  difficulties  and  objections.  They 
asked  me  how  far  I  was  willing  to  re- 
ceive the  Confession.  I  told  them, 
as  far  as  I  saw  it  consistent  with  the 
word  of  God.  They  concluded  that 
was  sufficient.  I  went  into  Presby- 
tery, and  when  the  question  was  pro- 


70  THE  CAUSES. 

prosed,  '  Do  you  receive  and  adopt 
the  Confession  of  Faith,  as  contain- 
ing the  system  of  doctrines  taught  in 
the  Bible?'  I  answered  aloud,  so 
that  the  whole  congregation  might 
hear,  '  I  do,  as  far  as  I  see  it  consistent 
with  the  word  of  God.'  No  objection 
being  made,  I  w^as  ordained." 

So  these  revival  preachers,  in  mak- 
ing exceptions  to  certain  articles,  un- 
less the  Presbytery  decided  that  these 
articles  were  "  essential  or  neces- 
sary in  doctrine,  worship,  or  govern- 
ment," were  only  exercising  their 
right  of  adopting  "  the  Westminster 
Confession  in  its  historic  sense." 
Many  before  them  had  exercised  the 
same  right,  and  some  after  them 
claimed  the  same  privilege.  In  1829 
the  Rev.  Albert  Barnes  preached  a 
.sermon  on  "The  Way  of  Salvation." 


DOCTRINE.  71 


The  more  strict  subscriptionists  took 
exception  to  his  teaching,  and  the  re- 
sult was  that  Mr.  Barnes  was  placed 
on  trial  in  1830.  Not  satisfied  with 
the  result,  the  strict  subscriptionists, 
in  1835,  again  brought  Mr.  Barnes  to 
trial,  this  time  on  charges  based  on 
his  Notes  on  Romans,  though  the 
charges  were  substantially  the  same 
as  in  the  former  instance.  The  case 
was  finally  settled  by  the  Assembly  in 
1836,  in  favor  of  Mr.  Barnes.  His 
strong  plea  was  subscription  to  the 
Westminster  Confession  "  in  its  his- 
toric sense."  Truly  does  Dr.  Briggs 
(How^  Shall  We  Revise  ?  p.  29)  say : 
"The  battle  in  the  Presbyterian 
Church  since  1729  has  been  a  battle 
between  loose  subscription  and  strict 
subscription."  The  battle  which  the 
fathers   of  the   Cumberland   Presby- 


THE  CAUSES. 


terian  Church  fought  was  one  of  this 
character.  They  stood  for  liberal 
subscription,  while  the  anti-revival 
party  stood  for  strict  subsciption  ;  and 
had  the  founders  of  the  Cumberland 
Presbyterian  Church  been  allowed 
that  broad  liberty  of  liberal  subscrip- 
tion for  which  the  Adopting  Act  of 
1729  provided,  and  which  many  Pres- 
byterians before  them  had  claimed, 
the  Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church 
would  never  have  been  organized. 
Its  birth  was  a  strong  protest  against 
strict  subscription. 

The  revival  preachers  could  not 
require  of  the  young  men  strict  sub- 
cription  while  they  themselves  gener- 
all}'  held  to  liberal  subscription,  so  the 
young  men  were  allowed  to  adopt  the 
Confession  of  Faith,  making  excep- 
tions to  certain  articles,  according  to 


DOCTRINE. 


the  Adopting  Act  of  1729.  The  revival 
party,  iu  a  letter  to  the  Assembly,  in 
1807,  (Smith,  p.  622)  said  :  "  You  will 
be  told  that  they  [the  young  men] 
were  not  regularly  licensed,  having 
only  received  the  Confession  of  Faith 
partially,  but  the  fears  which  caused 
that  exception,  rose  merely  from  the 
concise  manner  in  which  the  highly 
mysterious  doctrine  of  divine  decrees 
is  there  expressed,  which  was  thought 
led  to  fatality." 

The  "  Circular  Letter  "  sent  out  by 
the  new  Cumberland  Presbytery,  ex- 
plaining their  reasons  for  existence, 
and  their  position,  (Smith,  p.  677) 
stated  "  that  those  men  who  were 
licensed,  both  learned  and  unlearned, 
were  only  required  to  adopt  the  Con- 
fession of  Faith  partially ;  that  is,  as 
far  as  they  believed  it  to  agree  with 


74  THE  CAUSES. 

the  word  of  God."  Dr.  Davidson 
(p.  227)  writes  that  the  young  men 
"  expressed  their  willingness  to  re- 
ceive and  adopt  the  Confession  of 
Faith  of  the  Church,  with  a  single 
exception,  but  that  exception  was 
very  significant.  They  professed  to 
believe  that  the  idea  of  fatality  was 
there  taught,  under  the  high  and 
mysterious  doctrines  of  election  and 
reprobation,  and  objected  accord- 
ingly." Again,  the  same  author 
(p.  255)  says  :  "  It  was  not  the  want 
of  classical  learning,  but  unsoimdyiess 
171  doctrine,  the  adoption  of  the  Con- 
fession with  reservations,  that  created 
the  grand  difficulty ;  and  the  removal 
of  this  hindrance  would  have  wonder- 
fully facilitated  the  accommodation  of 
the  other.  The  able  historian  [the 
Rev.  James  Smith]   of  the   Cumbey- 


DOCTRINE. 


land  Presbyterians  himself  admits 
this  in  several  places."  Dr.  David- 
son (p.  256,  note)  quotes  approvingly 
from  Mr.  Smith  as  follows :  "  More- 
over, it  was  the  adherence  of  the 
young  men  to  these  views,  that  pro- 
duced the  final  separation  of  the  two 
parties ;  for  all  the  young  men  after- 
wards proposed  to  the  Transylvania 
Presbytery,  that  they,  as  a  bod}', 
would  submit  to  a  re-examination, 
with  the  understanding  that  they 
should  be  indulged  in  their  conscien- 
tious scruples  on  this  subject." 

It  has  already  been  pointed  out 
that  Thomas  Nelson  and  Samuel 
Hodge,  who  had  been  ordained  by 
the  Cumberland  Presbytery,  came 
before  the  Transylvania  Presbj^tery, 
and  on  their  making  strict  subscrip- 
tion to  the   Confession   of  Faith,  the 


76  THE  CAUSED. 

Presbytery  decided  that  their  ordina- 
tion should  stand,  notwithstanding 
their  deficiencies  in  literary  attain- 
ments. On  this  point,  Dr.  Davidson 
quotes  Mr.  Smith  with  approbation 
as  follows  :  "As  the  literary  attain- 
ments of  Mr.  Hodge  were  inferior  to 
those  of  most  of  the  young  men 
licensed  or  ordained  by  Cumberland 
Presbytery,  we  are  warranted  in  the 
conclusion,  that  the  only  very  serious 
difliculty  existing  between  the  two 
bodies  consisted  in  the  rejection,  by 
the  members  of  the  Council,  of  what 
they  deemed  fatality." 

The  Synod  of  Kentucky  referred 
the  cases  of  the  revival  men  to  the 
Presbytery  of  Transylvania  for  adju- 
dication. The  Presbj'tery  announced 
the  following  in  reference  to  the  young 
men:  "With  relation  to  those  young 


DOCTRINE.  77 


men  licensed  and  ordained  by  the 
aforesaid  Presbytery,  we  do  humbly 
conceive  that  a  formal  examination  of 
them  respecting  doctrine  afid  disci- 
pline is  indispensable,  under  present 
circumstances,  for  us  to  be  satisfied, 
as  a  Presbytery,  respecting  their  sen- 
timents ;  and  consequently,  whether 
we  are  agreed  in  point  of  doctrine, 
without  which  a  union  would  be  in- 
consistent, and  afford  no  security  for 
future  peace  and  harmon}^  in  the 
Church.  From  hence  it  may  be  easily 
inferred,  that  an  unequivocal  adop- 
tion of  our  Confession  of  Faith  is  also 
indispensable.  This  would  be  only 
placing  them  on  the  same  grounds 
on  which  we  ourselves  stand,  and  any 
other  could  not  be  advisable  or  desir- 
able to  either  those  young  men  or 
ourselves.     For    them   to   adopt   the 


^8  TEE  CAUSEf:'. 

Confession  of  Faith  only  in  par^,  and 
we  the  whole,  would,  by  no  means,  in 
our  opinion,  effect  a  union  according 
to  truth  and  reality ;  and  we  conceive 
a  nominal  union  would  not  prove  a 
sufficient  security  against  future  diffi- 
culties ;  and  whatever  inference  may 
be  drawn  by  others,  respecting  what 
is  called  fatality,  from  our  views,  as 
expressed  in  the  Confession  of  Faith, 
respecting  the  divine  sovereignty,  in 
the  decrees  of  predestination  and  elec- 
tion, we  conceive  that  no  such  con- 
clusion can  follow  from  the  premises 
as  there  laid  down."  (Smith,  pp.  631, 
632.) 

The  foregoing  quotation  from  the 
deliverance  of  the  Presbytery  of  Tran- 
sylvania clearly  proves  that  in  March, 
1808,  the  said  Presbytery  regarded 
the  difficulty  as  being  one  of  doctrme 


DOCTRINE.  79 


atid  discipline,  and  not  one  of  educa- 
tion in  any  sense  worthy  of  mention. 
Dr.  Thompson  (p.  74)  speaking  of  the 
young  men,  says  that  they  were  not 
"  able  to  give  an  entire  assent  to  the 
teaching  of  the  Westminster  Confes- 
sion, especially  on  the  subjects  of 
predestination  and  perseverance." 

In  1824  there  appeared  from  the 
press  a  pamphlet  bearing  this  title : 
"A  Brief  History  of  the  Rise,  Progress, 
and  Termination  of  the  Proceedings 
of  the  Synod  of  Kentucky,  relative 
to  the  late  Cumberland  Presbytery,  in 
which  is  brought  to  view  a  brief  ac- 
count of  the  origin  and  present  stand- 
ing of  the  people  usually  denominated 
Cumberland  Presbyterians ;  as  taken 
from  official  documents  and  facts  in 
possession  of  Synod.  Published  by 
order  of  Synod  at  their  sessions  held 


80  THE  CAUSES. 

in  Harrodsburg,  October,  1822."  On 
page  26  of  this  pamphlet,  the  Synod 
of  Kentucky  makes  this  very  interest- 
ing statement :  "  It  is  moreover  due  to 
the  cause  of  truth  and  candor,  as  well 
as  to  our  Church  at  large,  and  the 
public  generally,  to  correct  a  state- 
ment, or  solemnly  disavow  the  truth 
of  a  statement,  widely  circulated  in 
the  account  given  of  the  Cumberland 
Presbj^terians  in  '  Buck's  Theological 
Dictionary.'  (Fifth  Edition,  by  W.  W. 
Woodward,  p.  419.)  It  is  there  stated 
that  the  *  Commission  exhibited  many 
charges,  etc.,  all  of  which  were  chiefly 
comprised  in  the  two  following,  viz: — 
(i)  Licensing  men  to  preach  the  gos- 
pel who  had  not  been  examined  on 
the  languages.  (2)  That  those  men 
who  were  licensed,  both  learned  and 
less  learned,  had  been  only  required 


DOCTRIXE.  81 


to  adopt  the  Confession  of  Faith 
partially,  that  is,  as  far  as  they  be- 
lieved it  to  agree  with  the  word  of 
God." 

**This  latter  charge  is  true,  but  the 
former  is  not.  And  for  the  truth  of 
this  disavowal,  we  appeal  to  the  testi- 
mony of  those  members  of  the  Com- 
mission of  Synod  who  are  yet  living. 
We  appeal  to  the  records  of  that  Com- 
mission, where  no  such  charge  can  be 
found  specified  or  tabled  against  the 
Presbytery  on  that  occasion.  We  ap- 
peal to  the  fact  of  the  Transylvania 
Presbytery's  having  subsequently, 
under  the  connivance  and  approbation 
of  the  Synod,  received  two  of  those 
young  men  [Messrs.  Nelson  and 
Hodge]  alluded  to  in  the  statement  in 
question.  And  we  appeal  to  the  ex- 
pressions of  the  Synod,  in  their  expla- 


THE  CAUSES. 


nation  and  defense  to  the  General 
Assembly  already  given,  which  says  : 
'  Further,  S\aiod  thought  that  among 
so  many  young  men  there  might  be 
found  at  least  a  few,  who  would  shortly 
be  qualified  for  the  office  of  the  gospel 
ministry,  could  they  be  induced  to 
use  the  proper  means.'  It  is  therefore 
denied  that  the  charge  under  consid- 
eration is  true."  Thus  it  will  be  seen 
that  twelve  years  after  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  new  Cumberland  Presby- 
tery, the  Synod  of  Kentucky  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  bore  the  fore- 
going important  testimony,  which 
proves  the  correctness  of  the  proposi- 
tion under  discussion,  namely,  that 
"  the  final  and  principal  cause  leading 
to  the  establishment  of  the  Cumber- 
land Presbyterian  Church  was  one  of 
doctrine''  rather  than  that  oi  educatio?i. 


DOCTRINE.  83 


This  testimony  was  given  after 
the  lapse  of  years,  when  excitement 
had  given  place  to  calm  reflection, 
and  for  the  truth  of  it  an  appeal  was 
made  to  men  then  living,  as  well  as 
to  the  records.  Being  published  in 
self-vindication,  it  is  the  strongest  of 
evidence. 

Dr.  Charles  Hodge  (Church  Polity, 
p.  359)  says :  "  It  is  well  known  that 
the  Cumberland  Presbytery  had,  for 
some  time,  persisted  in  licensing  and 
ordaining  men  who  had  not  received 
a  liberal  education,  and  w/io  refused 
to  adopt  the  Confession  of  Faiths  Dr. 
Hodge  is  wrong  in  saying  that  these 
men  refused  to  adopt  the  Confession 
of  Faith.  Perhaps  he  means  to  say 
that  they  adopt  it,  excepting  certain 
articles ;  if  so,  he  is  correct.  These 
young  men  adopted  it  exactly  as  the 


84  THE  CAUSES. 

Adopting  Act  of  1729  allowed  them  to 
do;  and  just  as  many  Presbyterian 
ministers  before  them  had  done. 

If  further  proof  is  needed  that  the  sep- 
aration was  due  more  to  the  question 
of  doctrine  than  to  that  of  education, \h^ 
General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  shall  furnish  that  proof.  In  the 
Assembly's  Digest  (p. 640)  it  is  said  that 
these  men  "were  licensed  as  probation- 
ers for  the  ministry,  having  adopted 
the  Confession  of  Faith  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church,  with  the  exception  of 
the  idea  of  fatality,  which  they  believed 
to  be  taught  in  that  book  under  the 
high  and  mysterious  doctrine  of  elec- 
tion and  reprobation.  They  adopted 
the  Confession  of  Faith  as  far  as  they 
understood  it ;  meaning  that  they  did 
not  understand  what  is  taught  con- 
cerning eternal  election  and  reproba- 


DOCTRINE.  85 


tion."  Again,  (p.  641)  it  is  stated 
that  "  the  Commission  requested,  in  a 
friendly  manner,  the  majority  of  the 
Cumberland  Presbytery  to  give  the 
reasons  why,  in  licensing  and  or- 
daining persons  to  preach  the  gospel, 
they  required  them  to  adopt  the  Con- 
fession of  Faith,  so  far  only  as  they 
in  reason  think  it  corresponds  with 
the  Scriptures.  The  reply  was,  that 
the  Confession  of  Faith  was  human 
composition  and  fallible,  and  that 
they  could  not  in  conscience  feel 
themselves  bound  any  further  than 
they  believe  it  corresponds  with  Scrip- 
tures." Or,  in  other  words,  to  the 
eflfect  that  they  planted  themselves 
on  the  principle  of  the  Adopting  Act 
of  1729,  whereby  a  probationer  was 
allowed  to  except  any  article  or  arti- 
cles, when  the  Presbyter^'  would  de- 


86  THE  CAVlsr:S. 


termine     whether     such     exceptions 
were  vital  to  the  Christian  systen. 

In  a  letter  to  the  Rev.  J.  W.  Steph- 
enson, in  1811,  in  reference  to  the  in- 
dependent Presbyter}^  the  Assembly 
(Assembly's  Digest,  p.  645)  spoke  as 
follows:  "The  men  of  whom  you 
speak,  went  out  from  us  because  they 
were  not  of  us.  The  objection  thej' 
make  to  our  Confession  of  Faith,  as 
if  it  taught  the  doctrine  of  fatality, 
we  fear  is  not  so  much  the  result 
of  a  defect  of  understanding,  as  of  a 
disposition  to  misrepresent.  For  who 
could  dream  that  the  doctrine  of  fatal- 
ity was  taught  in  an  instrument,  in 
which  it  is  declared  expressly,  that 
the  liberty  of  second  causes  is  not 
impaired  ?  We  do  not  object  to  your 
appointment  of  a  committee  to  confer 
with  these  men,  but  we  wish  you  to 


DOCTRINE. 


be  careful  not  to  yield  any  principle 
either  in  doctrine  or  government." 
If  the  Confession  did  not  teach  "  the 
doctrine  of  fatality,"  what  serious  ob- 
jection could  there  have  been  in  al- 
lowing these  men  at  their  ordination 
to  adopt  it,  "  with  the  exception  of 
the  idea  of  fatality?  " 

In  1814,  the  General  Assembly  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church  (Assembly's 
Digest,  p.  645)  adopted  a  report  in 
reference  to  "  the  Cumberland  body," 
which  said  "  that  the  grounds  of  their 
separation  from  us  were,  that  we 
would  not  relax  our  discipline,  and 
surrender  some  iviportayit  doctriiies  of 
our  Confession  of  Faith." 

Dr.  F.  R.  Cossitt  (Life  of  Ewing, 
PP-  35O'  35  0  pertinently  states  the 
case  thus:  "  It  is  a  subject  of  debate 
whether  the  prominent  cause  of  com- 


88  THE  CAUSE 8. 

plaint  and  censures  against  the  Cum- 
berland Presbytery  for  licensing  and 
ordaining  certain  young  men,  was 
because  they  were  permitted  to  adopt 
the  Confession  of  Faith  with  the  ex- 
ception of  fatality  or  only  so  far  as 
agreeable  to  the  word  of  God,  or  be- 
cause they  had  not  completed  a  class- 
ical education  ;  or  whether  both  were 
causes  equally  prominent.  To  say 
that  the  former  was  the  cause  of  com- 
plaint, was  to  sustain  the  old  mem- 
bers of  Cumberland  Presbytery,  ac- 
cording to  Presbyterian  usage  in 
North  Carolina,  where  most  of  them 
had  been  trained  for  the  ministry. 
To  say  that  the  latter  was  the  cause, 
would  be  to  sustain  them,  on  the 
ground  that  most  of  these  young  men 
were  so  much  superior  in  literary  at- 
tainments to  one  of  their  own  num- 


DOCTRINE.  89 


ber,  whose  licensure  and  ordination 
by  the  Cumberland  Presbytery  were 
afterwards  recognized  and  confirmed 
by  Transylvania  Presbytery.  To  say 
that  both  were  causes  equally  promi- 
nent, is  still  triumphantly  to  sustain 
them  by  the  doings  of  Presbj'terians 
themselves." 

Reference  has  already  been  made 
to  the  attempt  at  organic  union  be- 
tween the  Cumberland  Presbyterian 
and  the  Southern  Presbyterian 
Churches  in  1867.  On  that  occasion 
the  Cumberland  Presbyterian  Com- 
mittee proposed  to  surrender  the 
standard  of  ministerial  education  of 
its  Church,  and  to  adopt  that  of  the 
Southern  Presbyterian  Church  as  the 
standard  of  the  united  Church.  It 
has  already  been  noted  that  the  Com- 
mittee  from    the    Southern    Church 


90  THE  CAUSES. 

bore  testimony  to  the  fact  that  the 
question  of  education  was  not  the 
cause  of  the  failure  to  consummate 
organic  union. 

It  now  remains  to  inquire  why  or- 
ganic union  was  not  effected.  While 
the  Cumberland  Presbyterian  Com- 
mittee proposed  to  surrender  the 
Church  name,  and  to  adopt  for  the 
united  Church  the  standard  of  the 
Southern  Church  on  ministerial  edu- 
cation, it  asked  that  the  Confession  of 
Faith  of  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian 
Church  be  adopted  as  the  Confession 
of  the  united  Church,  "  or,  as  an  alter- 
native to  the  above,"  the  Cumberland 
Presbyterian  Committee  proposed  "to 
adopt  the  Confession  of  Faith  and 
Catechism  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 
modified"  on  "those  points  which 
pertain  to  the  subject  of  foreordina- 


DOCTRIXE.  91 


tion,  and  its  cognate  doctrines,"  or  to 
make  **  a  new  compilation  upon  the 
Westminster  Standards,"  which  "shall 
exclude  all  phraseology  and  modes  of 
expression  which  can  plausibly  be 
construed  to  favor  the  idea  of  fatality 
or  necessity." 

The  proposition  of  the  Cumberland 
Presbyterian  Committee  was  rejected, 
and  organic  union  failed  because  the 
Southern  Church  was  not  willing 
either  to  modify  the  wording  of  the 
Westminster  Confession  on  "  those 
points  which  pertain  to  the  subject  of 
fore-ordination,  and  its  cognate  doc- 
trines," or  to  make  "  a  new  compila- 
tion upon  the  Westminster  Stand- 
ards," which  "  shall  exclude  all  phra- 
seology and  modes  of  expression 
which  can  plausibly  be  construed  to 
favor  the  idea  of  fatality  or  necessity." 


92  THE  CAUSES. 

The  Committee  from  the  Southern 
Assembly  reported  to  that  body  the 
proceedings  of  the  Joint-Committee. 
The  report  was  referred  to  a  Special 
Committee  whose  report  thereon  was 
adopted  by  the  Assembly,  and  is  as 
follows  :  "  The  Assembly  hereby  re- 
cords its  devout  acknowledgment  to 
the  great  Head  of  the  Church  for  the 
manifest  tokens  of  his  presence  with 
the  Committees  of  Conference  during 
their  deliberations,  as  evinced  by  the 
spirit  of  Christian  candor,  forbear- 
ance and  love  displayed  by  both  par- 
ties in  their  entire  proceedings.  The 
Assembly  regards  the  object  for  which 
that  Committee  w^as  appointed  as  one 
fully  worthy  of  the  earnest  endeavors 
and  continued  prayers  of  God's  peo- 
ple in  both  branches  of  the  Church 
represented  in  the  Committee  ;  but  at 


DOCTRIXE.  93 


the  same  time  it  is  compelled,  in  view 
of  the  terms  for  effecting  any  organic 
union,  suggested  by  the  Committee  of 
the  Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church, 
to  declare  that,  regarding  the  present 
period  as  one  very  unfavorable  for 
making  changes  in  our  standards  of 
faith  and  practice,  it  is  more  especial- 
1}^  so  for  effecting  changes  so  ma- 
terially modifying  the  system  of  doc- 
trine which  has  for  centuries  been  the 
distinguishing  peculiarity  and  the 
eminent  glory  of  the  Presbyterian 
Churches,  both  of  Europe  and  the 
United  States."  (Alexander's  Digest, 
pp.  439,  440.)  Thus  it  was  a  question 
of  doctrme  that  caused  this  attempt  at 
organic  union  to  fail.  The  Southern 
Church  would  not  agree  to  union  ex- 
cept on  the  basis  of  the  Westminster 
Standards  ;  and  the  Cumberland  Pres- 


94  THE  Ciri<Ky,. 

byterian  Church  would  not  agree  to 
adopt  a  Confession  of  Faith,  which,  to 
say  the  least,  seemed  to  teach  some- 
thing different  from  the  "  whosoever- 
will"  gospel,  which  was  preached 
from  her  pulpits,  and  earnestlj^  be- 
lieved by  her  membership. 

The  Cumberland  Presbyterian 
Church  could  not  accept  the  follow- 
ing phraseology  in  the  Presbyterian 
Confession  :  "  By  the  decree  of  God, 
for  the  manifestation  of  his  glory, 
some  men  and  angels  are  predestinated 
unto  everlasting  life,  and  others  fore- 
ordained to  everlasting  death.  These 
angels  and  men,  thus  predestinated 
and  fore-ordained,  are  particularly 
and  unchangeably  designed  ;  and  their 
number  is  so  certain  and  definite  that  it 
cannot  be  either  increased  or  dimin- 
ished     Those   of    mankind   that  are 


DOCTRIXE.  95 


predestinated  unto  life,  God,  before 
the  foundation  of  the  world  was  laid, 
according  to  his  eternal  and  immu- 
table purpose,  and  the  secret  counsel 
and  good  pleasure  of  his  will,  hath 
chosen  in  Christ,  unto  everlasting 
glory  out  of  his  mere  free  grace  and 
love,  without  anj^  foresight  of  faith, 
or  good  works,  or  perseverance  in 
either  of  them,  or  any  other  thing  in 
the  creature,  as  conditions,  or  causes 
moving  him  thereunto  ;  and  all  to  the 
praise  of  his  glorious  grace.  As  God 
hath  appointed  the  elect  unto  glory, 
so  hath  he,  by  the  eternal  and  most 
free  purpose  of  his  will,  fore  ordained 
all  the  means  thereunto.  Wherefore 
they  who  are  elected  being  fallen  in 
Adam,  are  redeemed  by  Christ,  are 
effectually  called  unto  faith  in  Christ 
by  his  Spirit  working  in  due  season ; 


%  THE  CAUSES. 

are  justified  adopted,  sanctified,  and 
kept  by  his  power  through  faith  unto 
salvation.  Neither  are  any  other  re- 
deemed by  Christ,  efFectuall}^  called, 
justified,  adopted,  sanctified,  and 
saved,  but  the  elect  only.  The  rest 
of  mankind,  God  was  pleased,  accord- 
ing to  the  unsearchable  counsel  of 
his  owm  will,  whereby  he  extendeth 
or  withholdeth  mercy  as  he  pleaseth, 
for  the  glory  of  his  sovereign  power 
over  his  creatures,  to  pass  by  and  to 
ordain  them  to  dishonour  and  wrath 
for  their  sin,  to  the  praise  of  his  glo- 
rious justice"  (Chapter  III.  Sections 
III,  IV,  V,  VI  and  vii.)  Again,  "  Elect 
infants,  dying  in  infancy,  are  regen- 
erated and  saved  by  Christ  through 
the  Spirit  who  worketh  when,  and 
where,  and  how  he  pleaseth.  So  also 
are  all  other  elect  persons,  who  are 


DOCTRINE.  97 


incapable  of  being  outwardly  called 
bj"  the  ministry  of  the  word.  Others, 
not  elected,  although  they  may  be 
called  by  the  ministry  of  the  word, 
and  may  have  some  common  opera- 
tions of  the  Spirit,  yet  they  never 
truly  come  to  Christ,  and  therefore 
cannot  be  saved."  (Chapter  X.  Sec- 
tions III  and  IV.) 

The  Rev.  James  I.  Vance,  D.D.,  a 
prominent  minister  in  the  Southern 
Presbyterian  Church,  preached  a  ser- 
mon, in  1898,  on  "  Predestination,"  in 
which  (pp.  4.  5)  he  said  :  "  The  diffi- 
culties raised  b}^  this  doctrine  are  not 
imaginary.  They  are  very  real.  Is 
God  arbitrary  ?  Is  he  a  partial  God  ? 
Has  he.  from  all  eternity,  and  apart 
from  all  voice  and  act  of  ours,  sover- 
eignly decreed  one  portion  of  the  hu- 
man  race    to    everlasting   happiness. 


98  THE  CAUSES. 

and  another  portion  to  everlasting 
woe  ?  Is  the  world  what  it  is  because 
of  God's  foreordination  ?  If  so,  how 
can  God  escape  responsibility  for  the 
existence  of  .sin?  Is  not  divine  jus- 
tice reduced  to  a  fiction?  Do  not 
God's  eternal  decrees  brand  him  with 
favoritism  in  that  highest  and  most 
sacred  of  all  the  realms  of  life — the 
spiritual?  These  are  some  of  the 
difficulties  connected  with  predestina- 
tion. It  is  useless  to  deny  them,  for 
they  are  there  and  insistent.  Never- 
theless, it  is  pertinent  to  inquire 
whether  they  are  difficulties  that  in- 
here in  the  doctrine  or  difficulties 
that  arise  because  of  the  limitations 
of  human  thought  in  its  effi)rts  to 
apprehend  and  understand  the  doc- 
trine." The  author  then  goes  to  the 
Eible  to  find  the  doctrine  of  predesti- 


DOCTRINE.  99 


nation.  The  founders  of  the  Cum- 
berland Presb^'terian  Church  would 
have  had  no  fault  to  find  with  his  Bi- 
blical interpretation  of  the  doctrine. 
But  the  author  does  not  attempt  to 
make  any  defense  of  the  phraseology 
of  the  Presbyterian  Standards,  as 
quoted  above.  On  page  14,  he  says 
that  "  the  dogmaticians  have  divorced 
God's  decrees  from  God's  heart. 
The}'  have  made  the  doctrine  into  a 
dogma,  dry  and  sapless ;  they  have 
reduced  it  to  a  meatless  skeleton  and 
offered  it  to  the  soul  to  feed  upon. 
Having  lost  its  fragrance,  its  bloom, 
its  life-beat,  is  it  strange  that  men 
have  come  to  regard  it  as  a  hard  doc- 
trine? If  predestination  is  only  the 
arbitrary  fiat  of  an  a  priori  God,  there 
is  little  in  it  to  comfort  faith  or  en- 
courage hope.     But  that  is  not  pre- 


100  THE  CAUSES. 

destination  ;  it  is  the  nightmare  of  it. 
Rather  than  believe  in  such  a  God  as 
this,  I  prefer  not  to  know  him  at  all." 
It  was  not  the  doctrine  of  predestina- 
tion as  presented  in  the  Scriptures  to 
which  the  fathers  of  the  Cumberland 
Presbyterian  Church  objected,  but  to 
"the  nightmare  of  it "  as  presented 
in  the  Confession  of  Faith  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church.  Perhaps  none 
of  these  men  would  have  gone  so  far 
as  Dr.  Vance,  in  saying  that  "  rather 
than  believe  in  such  a  God  as  this  " 
they  would  "prefer  not  to  know  him 
at  all."  Doubtless  they  would  all 
have  agreed  with  Dr.  Vance  in  these 
words  (p.  15)  :  "  The  Bible  teaches 
that  God's  decree,  instead  of  destro}^- 
ing,  establishes  the  right  of  choice  on 
the  part  of  his  creatures.  God  pro- 
jected the  human  race  along  the  lines 


DOCTRINE.  lOl 


of  free  agency.  A  part  of  his  eternal 
plan  was  that  man  should  not  be  an 
automaton,  but  an  intelligent  being, 
susceptible  to  motives,  and  invested 
with  the  right  and  power  freely  to 
choose ;  so  that  predestination,  in- 
stead of  preventing  man's  free  agency, 
is  its  everlasting  decretal." 

The  following  language,  attributed 
to  Dr.  McCosh,  is  applicable  here : 
"  To  carry  up  human  theories  into 
high  heavenly  truths  is  like  construct- 
ing walls  and  planning  railways  in 
the  Empyrean  above  the  clouds.  I 
believe  most  devoutly  in  the  good 
sovereignty  of  God,  but  I  refuse  to 
let  human  logic  draw  conclusions 
which  would  strip  man  of  his  free- 
dom and  thereby  free  him  from  re- 
sponsibility." (How  Shall  We  Re- 
vise?  p.    58.)     In    reference   to    the 


102  TEE  CAUSES, 

teaching  of  the  Westminster  Confes- 
sion of  Faith,  the  Rev.  Erskine 
N.  White,  D.D.,  pertinently  asks": 
"  Where  is  there  any  statement  of 
the  freedom  of  every  man  to  accept 
or  reject  Christ  freely  offered  in  the 
gospel  ?  Where  is  set  forth  that  fun- 
damental truth  of  the  Calvinistic  sys- 
tem, that  man,  and  man  alone,  is  to 
be  blamed  if  he  is  lost."  (How 
Shall  We  Revise?  p.  60.) 

While  the  question  of  revision  was 
before  the  Northern  Presbyterian 
Church,  the  Rev.  Charles  H.  Park- 
hurst,  D.D.,  contrasted  the  positions 
of  the  two  sides  after  this  manner : 
"  God  does  his  utmost  to  save  every- 
body ;  that  is  our  position.  God  does 
his  utmost  to  save  a  part  and  passes 
by  the  rest;  that  is  the  other  position. 
That  last,  according  to  what  seems  to 


DOCTRINE.  103 


US  the  only  fair  mode  of  interpreta- 
tion, is  the  doctrine  of  our  Confession 
of  Faith.  And  it  amounts  to  nothing 
for  the  advocates  of  the  latter  to  say- 
that  we  mistake  their  views  so  long 
as  they  refuse  to  alter  by  so  much  as 
a  syllable  those  expressions  in  the 
Confession  that  make  it  necessary  for 
us  to  suppose  that  such  are  their 
views.  We  have  no  disposition  to 
say  that  they  hold  opinions  that 
are  more  brutal  than  they  have  the 
courage  possibly  to  confess.  We 
only  say  that  the  revisionists  repre- 
sent the  doctrine  of  an  unlimited 
atonement,  and  that  the  anti-revision - 
its  represent  the  doctrine  of  a  limited 
atonement,  and  claim  to  believe  in  a 
God  who  ordains  some  men  to  perdi- 
tion before  they  are  born,  and  con- 
sistently   therewith    withholds   from 


104  THE  CAUSES. 

them  the  influences  of  regenerating 
pov/er".  (How  Shall  We  Revise? 
pp.  91,  92.) 

Prof.  lylewellyn  J.  Evans,  D.D.,  uses 
the  following  strong  language  in  ref- 
erence to  the  Presbyterian  Confession 
of  Faith  :  ''  We  are  somewhat  tired  of 
a  Confessionalism  which  in  the  third 
century  of  its  existence  is  content  to 
be  still  on  the  defensive,  to  be  still  ex- 
plaining and  re-explaining,  ever  at  the 
end  finding  its  explanations  useless, 
and  beginning  all  over  again  ;  which 
despairs  of  making  any  impression 
on  the  evangelical  Christianity  outside 
of  its  own  bounds ;  and  with  face  to 
the  past,  and  back  to  the  future,  drones 
monotonous  paeans  of  self-glorifica- 
tion. In  all  this  we  find  nothing 
whereof  to  be  proud,  nothing  to  stir 
the  blood,  nothing  to  inspire  enthusi- 


DOCTRINE.  105 


asm.  We  would  fain  to  see  a  Con- 
fessionalism  of  another  type ;  one 
that  dared  trust  itself;  that  put  other 
creeds,  if  need  be,  on  the  defensive ; 
that  carried  in  its  own  bosom  the 
prophecy  of  victory ;  that  bore  with- 
in itself  the  promise  and  the  potency 
of  development ;  that  could  adapt  it- 
self more  intelligently  to  the  new  con- 
ditions of  scientific,  critical  and  re- 
ligious thinking — a  Confessionalism 
so  distinctively  and  ringingly  Scrip- 
tual  that  all  Christians  who  accept 
and  honor  the  Bible  as  the  Word  of 
God,  would  hear  the  echo  of  its  ring 
in  their  own  inmost  convictions — a 
Confessionalism  that  would  encourage 
its  adherents  to  go  forward  with  a 
faith  born  of  the  assurance  that  the 
future  is  its  own.  .  .  .  The  *  hard 
side '  of  Calvinism,  of  which  we  hear 


106  THE  CAUSES. 

SO  much,  is  for  the  most  part  extra- 
scriptual,  if  not  unscriptual.  Its 
gloomy,  repellent  features  are  largely 
the  excrescences  of  a  presumptuous 
logic,  and  of  a  one-sided  dogmatic 
exegesis.  '  The  Reprobation  '  of  the 
Westminster  Confession  is  nowhere 
affirmed  in  Scripture.  The  proof- 
texts  for  our  '  hard  doctrines  '  to  be 
sure,  are  taken  from  the  Bible  ;  the 
misfortune  is  that  they  prove  nothing 
of  what  they  are  cited  to  prove." 
(How  Shall  We  Revise  ?  pp.  44,  45,  46) 
Prof.  Marvin  R.  Vincent,  D.D.,  in 
showing  that  Romans,  chapters  ix., 
X.  and  xi.,  do  not  not  establish  the 
doctrine  of  'unconditional  election,  as 
is  claimed  by  some,  (How  Shall  We 
Revise?  p.  62)  says  that  "  these  chap- 
ters, as  they  are  the  most  difficult  of 
Paul's  writings,  have  been  most  mis- 


DOCTRINE.  107 


understood  and  misapplied.  Their 
most  dangerous  perversion  is  that 
which  draws  from  them  the  doctrine 
of  God's  arbitrary  predestination  of 
individuals  to  eternal  life  or  eternal 
perdition." 

Dr.  Briggs  clearly  shows  that  the 
Westminster  divines,  and  many  since 
who  held  to  the  Westminster  Stand- 
ards, believe  some  children  are  not  of 
the  elect,  and  that  those  of  that  num- 
ber who  die  in  infanc}^  are  lost,  as 
well  as  those  who  may  live  to  the 
years  of  accountability.  He  says 
that  Jonathan  Edwards  "  takes  ground 
for  the  damnation  of  infants,  in  very 
plain  language ;"  and  "  Nathaniel  Em- 
mons also  held  to  the  theory  of  the 
damnation  of  non-elect  infants." 
(How  Shall  We  Revise?  p.  ii8.)  Dr. 
Briggs  concludes  this  subject  as  fol- 


108  THE  CAUSES. 

lows :  "  The  Presbyterian  Church  no 
longer  believes  in  the  doctrines  ex- 
plicitly set  forth  in  the  Tenth  Chap- 
ter, Sections  III,  IV.  It  is  simple 
honest}^  to  make  this  confession  and 
to  revise  them,  in  some  way,  out  of 
the  Confession.  They  cannot  be  ex- 
plained away  by  speculative  dog- 
matics. They  may  be  cut  away,  or 
new  statements  may  be  substituted 
for  them.  Something  must  be  done 
for  their  revision.  There  can  be  no 
peace  until  the  doctrine  of  the  uni- 
veral  damnation  of  the  heathen  and 
their  babes  is  removed  from  the  creed 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church."  (How 
Shall  We  Revise?  p.  130.) 

The  seven  authorities  quoted  from, 
on  these  hard  doctrines  of  the  West- 
minster Standards,  are  all  Presby- 
terians.    Towards    the   close  of  the 


DOCTRINE.  109 


Nineteenth  century,  they  voice  what 
was  the  sentiment  of  the  founders  of 
the  Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church, 
early  in  the  century.  During  the 
discussion  before  the  Alliance  of  the 
Reformed  Churches  at  Belfast,  Ire- 
land, in  1884,  in  reference  to  admit- 
ting the  Cumberland  Presbyterian 
Church  to  membership  in  that  body, 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Calderwood  said  :  "As  I 
have  read  the  history  of  the  Cumber- 
land Presbyterian  Church,  it  seems  to 
have  sprung  up  in  a  season  of  revival 
from  opposition  to  a  hyper-Calvinistic 
form  of  teaching,  which  many  breth- 
ren and  which  I  myself  could  not  fol- 
low or  adopt,  and  which  I  should  ask 
to  be  delivered  from,  if  I  were  held 
responsible  for  it  in  the  Church  to 
which  I  belong.  I  do  not  hold  the 
Necessitarian   theory   of    Will   advo- 


110  THE  CAUSE 8. 

cated  by  Jonathan  Edwards  and  my 
devotion  to  the  Westminster  Confes- 
sian  is  not  aflfected  b)^  a  rejection  of 
Necessitarianism.  I  therefore  sym- 
pathize with  those  brethren  who  are 
placed  in  the  position  of  being  re- 
garded as  not  Calvinistic,  because 
they  have  disapproved  of  what  they 
conscientiously  believe  to  be  hyper- 
Calvinistic.''     (Proceedings,  p.  147.) 

The  Rev.  Prof.  Monod  speaking  to 
the  same  question  affirmed:  "When 
Calvin  framed  his  admirable  doctrine 
of  the  grace  of  God  in  that  shape,  it 
was  the  necessity  of  the  moment  he 
had  before  him.  This  doctrine  in  a 
particular  form  was  the  true  form  for 
the  Sixteenth  century — but  God  has 
not  made  us  to  live  in  the  Sixteenth 
century.  Has  God  not  led  his  Church, 
and  are  we  not  to  be  as  true  to  his 


DOCTRINE.  Ill 


direction  as  we  are  true  to  the  Bible, 
where  we  seek  our  doctrine  ?  In  a 
doctrine  we  find  two  parts,  a  funda- 
mental and  a  historial  part — the  first 
permanent,  the  second  modifiable. 
There  is  a  Confession  higher  than  the 
Westminster,  and  that  is  the  Confes- 
sion of  the  Bible."  (Proceedings  p. 
148.) 

On  the  same  occasion  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Story  said :  "  I  commend  in  the  high- 
est sense  what  these  brethren  have 
done.  It  is  a  general  and  broad  prin- 
ciple of  liberty  that  a  Christian 
Church  should  revise  its  standards 
and  reconsider  its  formulas;  and  I 
welcome  these  brethren  to  our  Alli- 
ance as  having  done,  in  the  exercise 
of  that  liberty,  that  which  I  consider 
one  of  the  highest  prerogatives,  and 
may  become  one  of  the  most  impera. 


112  THE  CAUSES. 

tive  duties,  that  any  Christian  Church 
can  exercise."  (p.  154.)  The  Rev.  Dr. 
Morris  told  the  Alliance  that  the 
Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church  had 
been  trying  "  to  eliminate  from  the 
Westminister  Confession,  not  Calvin- 
ism proper,  but  what  it  regards  as 
fatalism,  embodied  in  the  phraseology 
of  our  Sj^mbols."  (p.  159.) 

If  testimony  is  worth  anything,  it 
appears  that  a  clear  case  has  been 
made  out,  that  the  question  of  doctrine 
was  a  much  more  vital  issue  leading 
to  the  organization  of  the  Cumberland 
Presbyterian  Church,  and  in  main- 
taining a  separate  denominational  ex- 
istence, than  the  matter  of  mi?iisterial 
education!.  The  bulk  of  testimony  in- 
troduced has  come  from  Presbyterian 
sources — their  historians  and  Church 
judicatories     furnishing     it.      Three 


DOCTRINE.  113 

causes,  directly  and  indirectly,  led  to 
the  organization  of  the  Cumberland 
Presbyterian  Church,  namel}',  ^/le 
Great  Azvakoiing,  or  Revival  of  1800  ; 
the  matter  of  adaptation,  or  education 
of  the  ministry ;  and  the  matter  of 
doctrine,  the  last  cause  by  no  means 
being  the  least.  Many  who  are  high 
in  the  councils  of  the  Reformed 
Churches  have  approved  the  posi- 
tion of  the  Church  on  the  question  of 
doctrijie.  The  Cumberland  Presby- 
terian Church  came  into  existence 
because  oi  a  doctrinal  issue  and  her 
seperate  identif}-  has  been,  and  is  yet, 
maintained  for  the  same  reason. 


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